Adi Mittal won first place at the 2023 Collegiate Inventors Competition

Adi Mittal, a third-year student at the School of Medicine, won first place in the graduate student category at the 2023 Collegiate Inventors Competition for the development of a test to detect a brain aneurysm. Judges at the Oct. 24 event in Washington, D.C., were National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officials.

Mittal won $10,000 for his invention of a blood-based test known as CAT-7, which detects the formation of a cerebral aneurysm and predicts its risk of rupture earlier and more safely than current tests.

Cerebral aneurysms affect an estimated 2%-5% of the population. They can cause neurological problems and can rupture, leading to life-altering or fatal brain bleeds.

Mittal’s advisors are Robert Friedlander, Walter E. Dandy Distinguished Professor and chair of Pitt’s Department of Neurological Surgery, and Kamil Nowicki, a former Pitt resident and fellow in neurological surgery.