Crete, Greece, June 16-21, 2024

Zachary Steelman is a Research Biomedical Engineer at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, and the 7th Annual Arthur Pilla Young Scientist Award recipient!

The Annual Bioelectromagnetics (BioEM) meeting took place in Chania on the beautiful island of Crete in Greece this year, and with it our 7th Annual Arthur Pilla Young Scientist Award was awarded! Dr. Zachary Steelman from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, TX was awarded the esteemed prize with his presentation entitled, “Metal-Free Fiber-Bundle Fluorescence Microscopy for Quantifying Single-Cell Responses to Radio-Frequency Sources”. The study sought to develop a microscopy system compatible with high-power radiofrequency radiation, in order to better study single-cell responses to electromagnetic stimulation.

Dr. Steelman used 3D Printing to create a microscope objective and housing for the glass lenses, thereby eliminating any source of metallic material that might interfere with the electromagnetic stimulus.  The ability to image cells during exposure to high-power electromagnetic stimuli opens the door to real-time studies of single-cell responses. 
Full poster presentation:

Dr. Steelman’s findings could potentially prove to be one of the most important discoveries to date to help advance how we study the effects of electromagnetic stimuli on biological cells, and improves the speed and accuracy of data collection.

Of note is that the Arthur Pilla Young Scientist Award is normally given to a researcher in biology or bioelectromagnetics, but this year all that has changed! With a Biomedical Engineering background, and more specifically Optical Engineering, Dr. Steelman is the first recipient to receive the award in his field.

The Arthur Pilla Young Scientist Award is presented each year at the Annual BioElectromagnetics Society meeting to a Young PhD of less than 5 years, and includes a monetary prize of $1200 USD, and a Certificate of Recognition. Read more about the requirements here. Presented to Best Presentation and judged by a committee of esteemed scientists, the award is both prestigious and eagerly anticipated by young scientists from around the world. This award was established by Dr. Pilla’s daughter, Astrid, to encourage young scientists everywhere to continue research in electrotherapeutics using PEMF, and related areas. 

Read more and learn how to support young scientists in electrotherapeutic research at ArthurPilla.com
BioEM promotes the exchange of ideas to advance the science of natural and applied electromagnetic fields in biology and medicine. Visit BioEM.org to learn more.

Get ready for next year’s BioEM 2025 to take place in Rennes, France from June 22-27, 2025.
2026 BioEM is slated to take place at the Cairns Convention Centre in Queensland, Australia.