Anushka Naiknaware

This 13 year old invented a smart bandage that tracks wound moisture and alerts doctors (down to the minute) when it’s time to change it.

Anushka Naiknaware was in middle school when she found out that chronic wounds affect more Americans than all major cancers combined.

Her first question: Why is no one talking about this?

Her second: Why is no one fixing it?

She started reading journal papers.

And ended up inventing a smart bandage that tells doctors the exact moment it needs to be changed.

It tracks wound moisture.

Too wet? Risk of infection.

Too dry? Healing slows down.

Her design embedded graphene nanoparticles in fractal patterns, printed via a hacked inkjet cartridge using conductive ink she made herself.

It was biocompatible, low-cost, and Bluetooth-enabled, sending real-time data to a phone without removing the bandage.

She built it in her garage.

Funded it herself.

Wrote her own code.

And at 13, became the youngest winner of the Google Science Fair.

Her bandage won her:
- The LEGO Education Builder Award
- A $15,000 scholarship
- A trip to Denmark
- A path to FDA approval and mass manufacturing

She was named one of Teen Vogue’s 21 Under 21.

One of TIME’s 30 Most Influential Teens.

Honored by OMSI as a Teen Scientist.

And had a minor planet named after her: 33118 Naiknaware.

Today, Anushka’s at MIT, studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.