The Lab, Ayogu explains, offers a niche for his unique scientific approach. “Think Willy Wonka meets science, and we all sort of have the golden tickets,” Ayogu says.

Ayogu is currently part of a group that is in the process of developing an SMS mobile technology that assesses the seriousness of illnesses by a diagnostic algorithm that deciphers the patient’s medical emergencies through text messaging.

“We believe that patients can be empowered to care for [themselves],” says Ayogu.

This summer, Ayogu will be conducting a pilot study of the project along with his group members, each of whom comes from a different academic background.

In its first experimental year, The Lab has extended across the academic fields of the University.

This semester, in addition to the Silent LED Rave, The Lab has helped host a series of panels and exhibitions, including “Sex, America,” a VES thesis exhibition in collaboration with Nayeli E. Rodriguez ’10, a former Crimson arts editor, and Cambridge Science Festival’s “Big Ideas for Busy People,” as it unites the sciences with the arts at Harvard.

“It’s about identifying what resources you have and what gaps you have, and you reach out,” says Ayogu, a neurobiology concentrator. “We leverage each other’s skills and work together towards a common goal.”

—Staff Writer Bethina Liu can be reached at bethina.liu@college.harvard.edu.