Hung Cao, University of Washington Bothell electrical engineering assistant professor, has been awarded $549,000 from the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER).

Cao will use the five-year grant to continue developing tiny electronics to monitor the hearts of free-swimming zebrafish, a popular aquarium fish often used in research. Their hearts can regenerate after a 20-percent loss. The research could lead to possible treatments for people who suffer heart attacks.

Heart monitors so tiny they can be worn by a fish as small as the tip of your pinky finger can be made in the university’s “clean room” in Discovery Hall. Cao’s zebrafish are located at a University of Washington School of Medicine research facility in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle.

He says no existing technology can do what he plans. “At this point, I would say our lab is the only one in the world trying to do this,” Cao said.

He is the fourth UW Bothell faculty member to receive the prestigious CAREER award, according to Carolyn Brennan, assistant vice chancellor for research.