Washington Freshman Wins ISEF Award for Banana-Leaf Inspired Neonatal Incubator Liner
Redmond High School freshman Vedika Devarajan earned a third-place Materials Science prize at the 2026 Regeneron ISEF for her BananaBaby liner, which mimics banana leaf veins to help curb hospital-acquired infections in neonatal incubators.
Vedika Devarajan, a ninth-grade student at Redmond High School, created a neonatal incubator liner inspired by the parallel veins of banana leaves, naming the concept BananaBaby. Using a polydimethylsiloxane mold, she reproduced the leaf’s anisotropic pattern to channel condensation along defined pathways, aiming to reduce moisture-related bacterial contamination that leads to hospital-acquired infections in vulnerable newborns.
The project was first recognized with a first-place win at the Washington State Science & Engineering Fair, qualifying her for the 2026 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona. At ISEF, she earned a third-place Materials Science award of $1,200 and a Non-Trivial Fellowship Scholarship. Devarajan emphasizes that the liner is intended for low-resource environments, offering a potentially affordable upgrade to existing incubators without redesigning the entire device.
Though promising, the prototype remains a student-level study and would require extensive clinical testing before medical adoption. The initiative showcases how natural structures can inspire practical engineering solutions in healthcare.
Why it matters
It shows how simple, nature-based designs could improve newborn care in low-resource hospitals.
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