Research

Raman Lab | Tissue Engineering Biological Actuators to Restore Mobility and Power Robots

Biological materials have an unparalleled ability to sense, process, and respond to their environment in real-time. The Raman Lab engineers adaptive biological materials powered by assemblies of living cells for applications ranging from medicine to machines.

Currently, the Raman Lab is focused on understanding and engineering biological actuators by applying 4D tissue engineering principles to assemble innervated and vascularized muscle. These multicellular systems help us monitor and manipulate the biological motor control system for disease modeling, regenerative medicine, and soft robotics. Our goal is to help restore mobility to those who have lost it after disease or trauma, and to deploy biological actuators as functional components in efficient and sustainable robots.

Work in our lab is broadly divided into three areas:

Mechanistic and translational studies of neuromuscular disease to restore mobility after disease or trauma

Developing 4D biofabrication tools that enable dynamic assembly of complex multicellular tissues

Deploying neuromuscular tissues as robust, efficient, and responsive actuators in soft robots

Learn more by reading our publications.