Project Research

Agonist-antagonist Myoneural Interface (AMI)

Humans can accurately sense the position, speed, and torque of their limbs, even with their eyes shut. This sense, known as proprioception,…
Publication Research

Design and preliminary results of a reaction force series elastic actuator for bionic knee and ankle prostheses

M. E. Carney, T. Shu, R. Stolyarov, J. F. Duval and H. M. Herr, "Design and Preliminary Results of a Reaction Force Series Elastic Actuator for Bionic Knee and Ankle Prostheses," in IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 542-553, Aug. 2021, doi: 10.1109/TMRB.2021.3098921.
Project Research

Physiophone: Electrophysiology Sonification

The human body produces a variety of different electrophysiological signals from brain-waves (EEG) to the electrical activity of the heart …
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Project Research

WiStress: Contactless Stress Monitoring

WiStress is a system that can monitor a user’s stress passively using wireless signals. WiStress can be installed on a desk or near a couch…
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Project Research

Research resiliency through lean labs

Academic research groups, especially the ones directed by new junior faculty, are under pressure to produce high-quality work timely while …
Article Research

Canan Dağdeviren: Follow your dream because life is too short to follow someone else’s

Bioengineer Canan Dağdeviren is living her dream, decoding physical patterns of the human body in order to diagnose and cure diseases.
Project Research

3D neuromuscular model of the human ankle-foot complex

During the gait cycle, the human ankle complex serves as a primary power generator while simultaneously stabilizing the entire limb. These …
Project Research

Biplanar Fluoroscopy Gait Analysis

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

Computational Biomechanics

This research track focuses on the use of computational (and experimental) techniques to understand the biomechanical behavior of human tis…
Project Research

Personalized Bionics for Dynamic Gait

The design of next-generation bionic ankles and knees aims to improve bionic actuators on all metrics: range of motion, power density, band…
Project Research

An osseointegrated prosthesis with bi-directional neural communication

Recent advancements in orthopedic implants have made way for a new generation of bionic limbs that attach directly to the skeleton. Leverag…
Project Research

Revolutionizing amputation surgery for the restoration of natural neural sensation and mobility

Lower-extremity amputation surgery has not seen significant change since the Civil War. This research is focused on the development of nove…
Project Research

Powered Ankle-Foot Prosthesis

The human ankle provides a significant amount of net positive work during the stance period of walking, especially at moderate to fast walk…
Project Research

Neural interface technology for advanced prosthetic limbs

Recent advances in artificial limbs have resulted in the provision of powered ankle and knee function for lower extremity amputees and powe…
Article Research

Surgical technique improves sensation, control of prosthetic limb

New study describes first human implementation of novel approach to limb amputation.
Article Research

‘I can still feel it’: Groundbreaking arm amputation surgery makes a ‘phantom’ hand seem real

Read about the first upper-limb amputation performed using the AMI procedure created by Media Lab researchers + Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Article Research

New device from MIT, Harvard can quickly detect COVID variants in saliva samples

The team talks to CBS Boston about their work on a low-cost tabletop device that can quickly detect SARS-CoV-2 using a saliva sample.
Article Research

New device can diagnose Covid-19 from saliva samples

The tabletop diagnostic yields results in an hour and can be programmed to detect variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Publication Research

Experimentally Verified Finite Element Modeling and Analysis of a Conformable Piezoelectric Sensor

Amiri, N., Tasnim, F., Tavakkoli Anbarani, M., Dagdeviren, C.†, Karami, A.†, “Experimentally Verified Finite Element Modeling and Analysis of a Conformable Piezoelectric Sensor”, Smart Materials and Structures, 30 085017, 2021.
Article Research

Bionics: The Future of Prosthetics

Hugh Herr discusses the implications of the technology behind his work, from regenerative medicine and surgery to elderly mobility.
Research
Community Biotechnology

Community Biotechnology
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Project Research

Maiden Flight

Maiden Flight is an autonomous biological laboratory environment designed for studying the impact of space flight on the sole reproductive …
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Project Research

A tailored, electronic textile conformable suit for large-scale spatiotemporal physiological sensing in vivo

The rapid advancement of electronic devices and fabrication technologies has further promoted the field of wearables and smart textiles. Ho…
Publication Research

Self-assembling peptide scaffolds in the clinic

Gelain, F., Luo, Z., Rioult, M. et al. Self-assembling peptide scaffolds in the clinic. npj Regen Med 6, 9 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41536-020-00116-w
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Project Research

SeqCLR: Self-supervised learning of features for time-series data

Interpreting human electroencephalogram (EEG) is a challenging task and requires years of medical training. We present a framework for lear…
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Project Research

Non-full-length G protein-coupled receptors: An unexpected discovery may lead to design new molecular devices

It was believed that functionalities of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) require full-length sequences which are negated by residue dele…
Publication Research

Non-full-length Water-Soluble CXCR4QTY and CCR5QTY Chemokine Receptors: Implication for Overlooked Truncated but Functional Membrane Recepto

An unexpected discovery of truncated GPCR receptors raises questions about pseudogenes, the "Dark Matter" in genomes and for new devices.
Publication Research

Near-infrared imaging for detecting caries and structural deformities in teeth

K. Angelino, D. A. Edlund, P. Shah. Near-Infrared Imaging for Detecting Caries and Structural Deformities in Teeth. Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine (2017). PMID: 28507826
Project Research

Doze: On-skin Scent Diffusion and Drug Delivery Patch

Doze is an IoT enabled platform for personalized scent diffusion and on-skin drug delivery. Leveraging a hydrogel technology, the Doze syst…
Project Research

Miniaturized Neural System for Chronic, Local Intracerebral Drug Delivery (MiNDS)

Recent advances in medications for neurodegenerative disorders are expanding opportunities for improving the debilitating symptoms suffered…
Project Research

Flexible piezoelectric devices for gastrointestinal motility sensing

Improvements in ingestible electronics with the capacity to sense physiological and pathophysiological states have transformed the standard…
Publication Research

QTY code-designed water-soluble Fc-fusion cytokine receptors bind to their respective ligands.

Hao, SL., Jin D., Zhang, S. & Qing, R. (2020) QTY code-designed water-soluble Fc-fusion cytokine receptors bind to their respective ligands. QRB Discovery 1 (e4) 1-9, Cambridge University Press
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Research
Design Fiction

Sparking discussion about the social, cultural, and ethical implications of emerging technologies through design and storytelling
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Research
Synthetic Neurobiology

Revealing insights into the human condition and repairing brain disorders via novel tools for mapping and fixing brain computations
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Project Research

Optogenetics: Molecules enabling neural control by light

We have pioneered the development of fully genetically encoded reagents that, when targeted to specific cells, enable their physiology to b…
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Archived
Project Research

Tools for recording high-speed brain dynamics

The brain is a three-dimensional, densely-wired circuit that computes via large sets of widely distributed neurons interacting at fast time…
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Archived
Project Research

Prototype strategies for treating brain disorders

New technologies for recording neural activity, controlling neural activity, or building brain circuits, may be capable someday of serving …
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Archived
Project Research

Tools for mapping the molecular architecture and wiring of the brain

Complex biological systems such as brain circuits are extended 3-D structures made out of nanoscale building blocks such as proteins, RNAs,…
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Archived
Project Research

Understanding normal and pathological brain computations

We are providing our tools to the community, and also using them within our lab, to analyze how specific brain mechanisms (molecular, cellu…
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Project Research

Living Bits

Living Bits : Opportunities and Challenges for Integrating Living Microorganisms in Human-Computer InteractionThere are trillions of living…
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Research
New Media Medicine

How radical new collaborations will catalyze a revolution in health.
Thesis Research

Design and Evaluation of a Reaction-Force Series Elastic Actuator Configurable as Biomimetic Powered Ankle and Knee Prostheses

Carney, Matthew E. “Design and Evaluation of a Reaction-Force Series Elastic Actuator Configurable as Biomimetic Powered Ankle and Knee Prostheses By.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020.
Project Research

Theme | CityScope

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

Nature-inspired CRISPR enzymes for expansive genome editing

Applied computational biology discoveries vastly expand the range of CRISPR’s access to DNA sequences.
Project Research

Robust Genome Editing with Broad Targeting CRISPR Enzymes

Programmable CRISPR enzymes are powerful and versatile tools for genome editing. They, however, require a specific protospacer adjacent mot…
Article Research

The coronavirus pandemic reawakens bioweapon fears

Kevin Esvelt and other experts talk to Axios about the risk of, and potential defenses against, engineered pathogens.
Article Research

“Lean lab” approach enables quick research ramp down

MIT lab offers a model for cost savings, productivity, and safety; principles may also facilitate efficient reopening in the future.
How to build characters that have the everyday common sense, the ability to learn, and the sense of empathy that one finds in animals such a
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Digital Life
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Project Research

Water-soluble transmembrane protein receptors with exchangeable and tunable ligand affinity

There are 20 chemokine receptors that bind their respective chemokines. It is not currently understood how these structurally similar recep…
Article Research

Women in Engineering: An interview with Canan Dagdeviren

"Our device-driven research is directly inspired by the diseases of our family members and dear friends...indirectly by humanity at large."
Article Research

New method visualizes groups of neurons as they compute

Fluorescent probe could allow scientists to watch circuits within the brain and link their activity to specific behaviors.
Project Research

Mice Against Ticks - Preventing tick-borne disease by permanently immunizing mice

Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne infection in North America. People are infected when bitten by ticks; ticks are typically infe…
Article Research

Biohacking: Rules of Engagement

Arielle Duhaime-Ross talks to biohacker Josiah Zayner, Alex Pearlman, and Ling Ling Chang about norms, ethics, and regulation.
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Research
CE 2.0

CE 2.0
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Research
Music, Mind and Machine

How to build intelligent music systems out of interacting audio-processing agents.
Post Research

Outstanding Paper in the 2019 Emerald Literati Awards

The MAS.808 course perspective article published in Foresight was chosen as a winner by the editorial team, as it is one of the most except…
Project Research

Conformal Piezoelectric Mechanical Energy Harvesters: Mechanically Invisible Human Dynamos

Nearly all classes of wearable and implantable biomedical devices depend on battery power for continuous operation. However, the life span …
Project Research

The Future of Neuroimplantable Devices: A materials science and regulatory perspective

​The past two decades have seen unprecedented progress in the development of novel materials, form factors, and functionalities in neuroimp…
Post Research

How do materials choices and design decisions affect the regulatory pathway for neuroimplantable devices?

We present a review paper that analyzes how early design decisions can affect the regulatory approval process downstream.
Project Research

Cyborg Botany: Augmented plants as sensors, displays, and actuators

Plants can sense the environment, other living entities and regenerate, actuate or grow in response. Our interaction and communication…
Project Research

NETRA: Smartphone add-on for eye tests

Can a person look at a portable display, click on a few buttons, and recover his or her refractive condition? Our optometry solution combin…