Boğaziçi’s Sema Dumanlı Oktar wins IEEE award for biohybrid implant antennas

Assoc. Prof. Sema Dumanlı Oktar of Istanbul’s Boğaziçi University has received the 2026 Lot Shafai Mid-Career Distinguished Achievement Award from the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society for pioneering work on sensing molecular changes inside the body with biohybrid implant antennas.

Assoc. Prof. Sema Dumanlı Oktar, a faculty member in Boğaziçi University’s Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, has received the 2026 Lot Shafai Mid-Career Distinguished Achievement Award from the Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) of the IEEE, the U.S.-based organization that is the world’s largest technical professional body. She was honored “for pioneering wireless in-body molecular sensing using biohybrid implant antennas.”

According to the society’s call for nominations, the award recognizes the past technical accomplishments and future potential of a mid-career woman in antennas and propagation. Previous recipients include Negar Ebadi in 2025 and Leyre Azpilicueta in 2024. Oktar’s BOUNtenna laboratory announced the award on July 20.

Sema Dumanlı Oktar at Boğaziçi University

Antennas steered by living cells

Oktar’s research focuses on antennas for implantable and wearable devices, in-body sensors and biohybrid implants. The approach aims to use living cells, particularly bacteria, to detect biological and chemical changes inside the body: genetically modified bacteria reconfigure an implant antenna so that changes can be tracked wirelessly and in real time. The plan includes a biodegradable implant antenna controlled by bacteria, followed by a wearable antenna system, and the work is supported by TÜBİTAK’s 2247-A National Leading Researchers Program.

The research is not yet a diagnostic method ready for clinical use and still requires scientific validation and clinical evaluation. Work from her AntennAlive bioelectromagnetics laboratory appeared on the cover of IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine in December 2023, and in 2025 BOUNtenna received funding from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to design a subcutaneous implant antenna for brain-computer interfaces.

Sema Dumanlı Oktar in her laboratory

From Toshiba to Boğaziçi

Oktar earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Middle East Technical University (METU) in 2006 and her Ph.D. from the University of Bristol in 2010. From 2010 to 2017, she worked at Toshiba Research Europe in Bristol as a research engineer and later senior research engineer, before joining Boğaziçi, where she founded and leads the BOUNtenna and AntennAlive laboratories.

She previously received the IEEE AP-S 2022 Donald G. Dudley Jr. Undergraduate Teaching Award and the Science Academy’s 2025 BAGEP Young Scientist Award, and has won Boğaziçi’s Faculty of Engineering Excellence in Teaching Award three times. She also serves as an associate editor of the IEEE AP-S Digital Communications platform and holds roles in IEEE Türkiye and URSI Türkiye.

Sema Dumanlı Oktar at the BOUNtenna antenna laboratory (file photo)