{{{gallery_title}}}

Far-UVC for airborne pathogen disinfection

Assessing the safety of Far-UVC – an emerging technology for airborne pathogen control.

Archived

Air sampling for virus detection

Examining the role of air sampling in pathogen biosurveillance.

Assessing the safety of new germicidal far-UVC technologies

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic underscored the crucial importance of enhanced indoor air quality control measures to mitigate the spread of …

Indoor air sampling for detection of viral nucleic acids

Detecting and monitoring airborne viruses is critical for mitigating the spread of infectious diseases and safeguarding public health.

Conformable Decoders

Converting the patterns of nature and the human body into beneficial signals and energy

Affective Computing

Advancing human wellbeing by developing new ways to communicate, understand, and respond to emotion

City Science

Looking beyond smart cities

Conformable Piezoelectric Devices and Systems for Advanced Wearable and Implantable Biomedical Applications

Kim, J., Yoon. H., Vinwanath, S., Dagdeviren, C.†, “Conformable Piezoelectric Devices and Systems for Advanced Wearable and Implantable Biomedical Applications”, Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, 27:255-282, 2025. [Invited Review Paper]

Wearable device tracks individual cells in the bloodstream in real time

The technology, which achieves single-cell resolution, could help in continuous, noninvasive patient assessment to guide medical treatments.

CLIMB: Data Foundations for Large Scale Multimodal Clinical Foundation Models

Recent advances in clinical AI have enabled remarkable progress across many clinical domains. However, existing benchmarks and models are p…

Nano-Cybernetic Biotrek

Inventing disruptive technologies for nanoelectronic devices and creating new paradigms for life-machine symbiosis

Tangible Media

Invent new tangible and embodied interactions that inspire and engage people

Archived

Health sensing using wireless signals

Today’s health sensors (which monitor breathing, heartbeats, steps, etc.) require their users to wear them on their bodies. In contrast, ou…

Archived

Biomechatronics

Enhancing human physical capability

Sculpting Evolution

Cultivating wisdom through evolutionary and ecological engineering

Responsive Environments

Augmenting and mediating human experience, interaction, and perception with sensor networks

Personal Robots

Building intelligent personified technologies that collaborate with people to help them learn, thrive, and flourish.

Molecular Machines

Engineering at the limits of complexity with molecular-scale parts

Fluid Interfaces

Designing Systems for Cognitive Augmentation

Camera Culture

Making the invisible visible–inside our bodies, around us, and beyond–for health, work, and connection

Tiny tubes wrap around brain cells

The devices could help scientists probe subcellular regions of the brain and possibly treat disease.

Media Lab Research Theme: Life with AI

Life with AI | Designing the future of smart systems to improve the human experience

Media Lab Research Theme: Future Worlds

Future Worlds | Design and action for the future we want to live in

Media Lab Research Theme: Decentralized Society

Decentralized Society | Architecting the new internet for the good of the people

Media Lab Research Theme: Cultivating Creativity

Cultivating Creativity | Catalyzing a global movement enabling everyone to unlock and unleash their individual and collective creativity

Media Lab Research Theme: Connected Mind + Body

Connected Mind + Body | Revolutionizing the future of mental and physical wellbeing

Evolving Decoy ACE2 Receptor Mimics As COVID-19 Therapeutics

COVID-19 has over only a few short months resulted in the deaths of >400,000 people worldwide (as of mid-June 2020) and has forced many …

Biplanar Fluoroscopy Gait Analysis

Biplanar fluoroscopy (BiFlo) enables three-dimensional bone kinematics analysis using x-ray videos and bone geometry from segmented CT. Hin…

Team develops an innovative, implantable ultrasound device to stimulate neurons in deep-brain regions

This research has ImPULS has potential applications for treating conditions from major depression to Alzheimer’s disease.

Theme | CityScope

City Science researchers are developing a slew of tangible and digital platforms dedicated to solving spatial design and urban planning cha…

Decoding tissue biomechanics using conformable electronic devices

Yoon, H., Kim, J., Sadat, D., Barrett, A., Ko, S. H., Dagdeviren, C.†, "Decoding Tissue Biomechanics via Conformable Electronic Devices", Nature Reviews Materials, doi.org/10.1038/s41578-024-00729-3, 2024. [Cover Image]

Conformable Ultrasound Breast Patch (cUSBr-Patch) for Deep Tissue Scanning and Imaging

Ultrasound is widely used for tissue imaging such as breast cancer diagnosis; however, fundamental challenges limit…

conformable Ultrasound Patch (cUSP) For Cavitation-Enhanced Transdermal Drug Delivery

Ultrasound-induced transdermal drug delivery (sonophoresis) has long lingered in the by-lanes of academic and industrial research, and has …

Tiny, wireless antennas use light to monitor cellular communication

As part of a biosensing device without wires, the antennas could help researchers decode intricate electrical signals sent by cells.

Space Exploration Initiative

Designing, prototyping, and building the artifacts of our sci-fi space future

Life-Nanomachine Synergism

For details and recent updates visit: https://web.mit.edu/deblina-sarkar/Nanoelectronics has the potential to enable radical too…

“Wearable” devices for cells

These devices could help scientists probe subcellular regions of the brain, and might even help restore some brain function.

How software can act as an assistant rather than a tool, by learning from interaction and proactively anticipating the user's needs

It shouldn’t be easy to buy synthetic DNA fragments to recreate the 1918 flu virus

In STAT, Media Lab Professor Kevin Esvelt calls for stronger regulation of synthetic DNA.

Archived

Community Biotechnology

Empowering communities through the life sciences + biotechnology

Uruguay wants to use gene drives to eradicate devastating screwworms

The project was inspired by a conversation with Media Lab Professor Kevin Esvelt, a pioneer in developing gene drives.

Post Research

Neurally Controlled Prosthesis in the News

News coverage of the neural control prosthetic from Biomechatronics group.

Full neural control of a bionic limb to restore biomimetic gait after amputation

This project focuses on developing and integrating new powered prosthetic limbs, sensor systems, and surgical technologies to restore neura…

Imaging method reveals new cells and structures in human brain tissue

The new imaging method is based on expansion microscopy, which was developed in Professor Ed Boyden’s lab in 2015.

Neural hand prosthesis control test

Watch: Tech Briefs Magazine features a video of Dave Burke working with Media Lab Biomechatronics researcher Michael Fernandez.

Study of glutamate transporters and their AF2 predicted water-soluble QTY variants and uncovering the natural mutations L->Q, I->T, F->Y,

Karago ̈l A, Karago ̈l T, Smorodina E, Zhang S (2024) Structural bioinformatics studies of glutamate transporters and their AlphaFold2 predicted water-soluble QTY variants and uncovering the natural mutations of L->Q, I->T, F- >Y and Q->L, T->I and Y->F. PLoS ONE 19(4): e0289644.

Study of serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine transporters and their AF2 predicted water-soluble QTY variants and uncovering natural mutation

Neural Control of Upper Extremity Prostheses

Existing upper extremity prosthesis controllers have limited functionality and place high cognitive demands on users, both of which contrib…

An implantable piezoelectric ultrasound stimulator (ImPULS) for deep brain activation

Precise neurostimulation can revolutionize therapies for neurological disorders. Electrode-based stimulation devices face challenges in ach…

Thesis Research

An implantable piezoelectric ultrasound stimulator (ImPULS) for selective deep brain activation

Hou, J. (2023). An implantable piezoelectric ultrasound stimulator (ImPULS) for selective deep brain activation [Master's thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology]. MIT Media Lab.

MicroPET: Investigation of Biodegradation of PET Plastics in Spaceflight

MicroPET is an autonomous payload for enzymatic reactions and microbial cultivation with fully programmable serial passaging and sampl…

Video Friday: Robot, make me coffee

For Video Friday, IEEE Spectrum highlights a clip of Media Lab Biomechatronics researcher Michael Fernandez working with Dave Burke.

Studying the evolution of gene drive systems

How will gene drive systems evolve once released into the wild? Can they be reliably overwritten and blocked by immunizing reversal drives?…

CRISPR gene drives and the future of evolution

Professor Kevin Esvelt talks to science journalist Hannah Thomasy about the power—and the risks—of biotechnology.

Electronic Textile Sensors for Decoding Vital Body Signals: State-of-the-Art Review on Characterizations and Recommendations

Shuvo, I. I., Shah, A., Dagdeviren, C.†, “Electronic Textile Sensors for Decoding Vital Body Signals: State-of-the-art Review on Characterizations and Recommendations”, https://doi.org/10.1002/aisy.202100223, Advanced Intelligent Systems, 4, 2100223, 2022.

conformable Facial Code Extrapolation Sensor (cFaCES)

AbstractDevices that facilitate nonverbal communication typically require high computational loads or have rigid and bulky form factors&nbs…

Wearable Digital Health Technology

Friend, Stephen H., Geoffrey S. Ginsburg, and Rosalind W. Picard. "Wearable Digital Health Technology." New England Journal of Medicine 389.22 (2023): 2100-2101.

Mechanoneural interfaces for bionic integration

Shu, T., Herrera-Arcos, G., Taylor, C.R. et al. Mechanoneural interfaces for bionic integration. Nat Rev Bioeng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-024-00151-y

New portable breast cancer scanner can fit in a bra

To help combat "interval" cancers, the Conformable Decoders group led by Prof. Dagdeviren, has developed a wearable ultrasound scanner.

Archived

Mediated Matter

Designing for, with, and by nature

From Green Electronics to Gray Matter and Cyborg Cells

D. Sarkar, "From Green Electronics to Gray Matter and Cyborg Cells," in IEEE Nanotechnology Magazine, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 22-25, Febraury 2023, doi: 10.1109/MNANO.2022.3228095.

Abstract: JJ03.00008 : An Intracellular Antenna For Wireless Probing And Augmentation Of Living Cells*

Baju Joy. "Abstract: JJ03.00008 : An Intracellular Antenna For Wireless Probing And Augmentation Of Living Cells." APS March Meeting 2023, Volume 68, Number 3, Session JJ03: V: Emergent Properties of Complex Oxides Bulk, Thin Films, and Heterostructures V.