Sengupta joined the department in 2007 after a post-doctoral stint at the Center for Microfluidics and Medical Diagnostics at the University of Notre Dame. His research focuses on developing microsystem technologies for rapid detection of pathogens and other species of interest (biomarkers, cells, etc.). In particular, he investigates electrokinetic techniques for the isolation and electrical-based techniques for the detection of said targets. The technologies under development have potential environmental, food-safety, animal health and biomedical applications.