Research


Biology teaches us how to be better engineers. Engineering helps us understand and manipulate biology.


Biological materials have an unparalleled ability to sense, process, and respond to their environment in real-time. The Raman Lab creates 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 tissues that produce force and generate motion. Humans and other biological creatures navigate unpredictable and dynamic environments by combining the compliant actuation of skeletal muscle with neural control and sensory feedback. We use biological materials and engineering tools to assemble cells into living neuromuscular tissues. These tissues help us understand and manipulate the architecture and function of the biological motor control system in healthy and diseased states.


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 biofabrication tools that enable dynamic 4D assembly of complex multicellular tissues
Deploying neuromuscular tissues as robust, efficient, and responsive actuators in soft robots

Learn more by reading our publications.