Making healthcare more affordable, effective and personal is one of the great challenges of our time. In the Living Matter Lab, we pioneer new technologies that empower individuals by making information about their own biology and biome more accessible. In particular, we are exploring the development of compact and highly configurable digital microfluidic biochips that have the potential to move a variety of complex diagnostics out of the lab and into the home.
Successful development of this technology depends on the contributions of many disciplines: computer science, nanotechnology, biology and microbiology, genetics, social science, art and more. Taking an open source and collaborative approach, we are building a broad and diverse community that can contribute to the success of this nascent medical technology by sharing ideas or submitting experiments to be run in the lab. This approach to healthcare innovation is a major shift away from current norms, so as we plumb the potential of this new approach to microfluidics, we are also exploring more inclusive and democratic models for healthcare innovation.听
Working at the intersection of technology and art, we are passionate about interfacing with living matter, specifically with the micro-organism听part of our being and our environment. Research in our lab is a continuous play with biology, engineering and art to explore the lost connection of the humankind with all other kinds.
At a听technical level, our research focuses around digital microfluidic biochips, devices that听enable direct interaction of humans with their microbiome for diagnosis and treatment purposes. As an artistic investigation, we are looking into experiencing the micro-world in unique ways, e.g., microbiomes as a source for sustainability, bioluminescence as a guidance for escaping darkness, etc.
Projects
Lab Director
Associated Researchers
Alumni
Publications
Nadia Campo Woytuk, Fiona Bell, Joo Young Park, Mirela Alistar, Madeline Balaam. 2024. "". In:听HttF '24: Proceedings of the Halfway to the Future Symposium. (October 21, 2024).
Mirela Alistar, Latifa Al-Naimi, Sepideh Mohammadi, Shira David, Julia Tung, Eldy S. Lazaro Vasquez. 2024. "". In:听UbiComp '24: Companion of the 2024 on ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing. (October 5, 2024).
Dreycey Albin, Michelle Ramsahoye, Eitan Kochavi,听Mirela Alistar. 2024. "". In: Frontiers in Microbiology, Volume 15. (September 16, 2024).
Netta Ofer, Mirela Alistar. 2024. "". In:听DIS '24: Proceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference. (July 1, 2024).听
Eldy S. Lazaro Vasquez,听Mirela Alistar,听Laura Devendorf, and听Michael L. Rivera. 2024.听. In:听Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 鈥�24), (Honolulu, HI, May 11鈥�16, 2024).
Latifa Al-Naimi, Mirela Alistar. 2024. "". In:听CHI '24: Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. (May 11, 2024).
Katherine W Song, Fiona Bell, Himani Deshpande, Ilan Mandel, Tiffany Wun, Mirela Alistar, Leah Buechley, Wendy Ju, Jeeeun Kim, Eric Paulos, Samar Sabie, Ron Wakkary. 2024. "Sustainable Unmaking: Designing for Biodegradation, Decay, and Disassembly". In:听CHI EA '24: Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. (May 11, 2024).
Fiona Bell, Shanel Wu, Nadia Campo Woytuk, Eldy S. Lazaro Vasquez, Mirela Alistar, Leah Buechley. 2024. "". In:听TEI '24: Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction.听(February 11, 2024).
Fiona Bell, Joshua Coffie, Mirela Alistar. 2024. "". In:听TEI '24: Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction.听(February 11, 2024).
Eldy S. Lazaro Vasquez,听Lily M Gabriel,听Mikhaila Friske,听Shanel Wu,听Sasha De Koninck,听Laura Devendorf, and听Mirela Alistar. 2023. "". In:听Adjunct Proceedings of the 2023 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing &听the 2023 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computing (UbiComp/ISWC '23 Adjunct).听(October 08, 2023).
Dreycey Albin,听Lukas Buecherl,听Eitan Kochavi,听Elise Niehaus,听Sasha Novack,听Shenali Uragoda, Chris J. Myers, and听Mirela Alistar. 2023. "". In:听IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. (July 14, 2023).
Fiona Bell,听Michelle Ramsahoye,听Joshua Coffie,听Julia Tung, and听Mirela Alistar. 2023. 鈥溾��. In:听Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS 鈥�23), (Pittsburgh, PA, July 10鈥�14, 2023).
Netta Ofer听and听Mirela Alistar. 2023.听"". In:听Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems听(Hamburg, Germany, April 23-28, 2023).
Fiona Bell,听Derrek Chow,听Eldy S. Lazaro Vasquez,听Laura Devendorf, and听Mirela Alistar. 2023. "". In:听Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction听(TEI '23)听(Warsaw, Poland, February 26 - March 1, 2023)鈥�. 听[Best Pictorial Award]
Fiona Bell,听Derrek Chow,听Hyelin Choi, and听Mirela Alistar. 2023. "". In:听Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction听(TEI '23)听(Warsaw, Poland, February 26 - March 1, 2023)鈥�.听
Eldy S. Lazaro Vasquez,听Netta Ofer,听Shanel Wu,听Mary Etta West,听Mirela Alistar听and听Laura Devendorf.听2022. Exploring Biofoam as a Material for Tangible Interaction. In听Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS 鈥�22), Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1525-1529.听听(June 13-17, 2022鈥擵irtual Event, Australia).听
Fiona Bell,听Netta Ofer,听Hyelin Choi,听Ella McQuaid,听Ethan Frier, and听Mirela Alistar.听2022. Biomaterial Playground: Engaging with Bio-based Materiality. In听Extended Abstracts of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 鈥�22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1鈥�4. DOI:听听(New Orleans, LA鈥擜pril 29-May 5, 2022).
Fiona Bell, Netta Ofer, and Mirela Alistar. 2022. ReClaym our Compost: Biodegradable Clay for Intimate Making. In Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 鈥�22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1鈥�14. DOI: (New Orleans, LA, USA鈥擜pril 29-May 5, 2022).听[Best Paper Honorable Mention Award]
Fiona Bell,听Ella McQuaid, and听Mirela Alistar.听2022. Alganyl: Cooking Sustainable Clothing. Dise帽a 20: Design and Somatic Sensibilities. Article 4. DOI:听
Fiona Bell,听Latifa Al-Naimi,听Ella McQuaid, and听Mirela Alistar. 2022. Designing with Alganyl. In听Sixteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction听(TEI '22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 2, 1-14. DOI:听听(Daejeon, Republic of Korea (virtual) Feb. 13-16, 2022).
Fiona Bell听and听Mirela Alistar. 2022. Designing with Alganyl: A Hands-on Exploration of Biodegradable Plastics. In听Sixteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction听(TEI '22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 56, 1-5. DOI:听听(Daejeon, Republic of Korea (virtual)鈥揊eb. 13-16, 2022).
Netta Ofer,听Fiona Bell听and听Mirela Alistar. 2021. Designing Direct Interactions with Bioluminescent Algae. In听Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021听(DIS 鈥�21), June 28-July 2, 2021, Virtual Event, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 23 pages.听
Fiona Bell, Alice Hong, Andreea Danielescu, Aditi Maheshwari, Ben Greenspan, Hiroshi Ishii,听Laura Devendorf, and听Mirela Alistar. 2021. Self-deStaining Textiles: Designing Interactive Systems with Fabric, Stains and Light.听In听Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 鈥�21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1鈥�12. (Yokohama, Japan (virtual)鈥揗ay 8-13, 2021). pdf.
Fiona Bell and Mirela Alistar. 2021. Alganyl.听Patent No.听US 63/184,992, Filed April 26th, 2021.
Fiona Bell. 2021. The Undyeing Swatch. In听Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction听(TEI '21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 86, 1鈥�3. DOI:(Salzburg, Austria (virtual) Feb. 14-19, 2021).听
Mirela Alistar听and Margherita Pevere. 2020. Semina Aeternitatis: Using Bacteria for Tangible Interaction with Data. In听Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems听(CHI EA 鈥�20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1鈥�13. DOI:听(Honolulu, Hawaii (virtual)鈥揂pril 25-30, 2020).
Timothy Merritt, Foad Hamidi,听Mirela Alistar听& Marta DeMenezes听(2020)听Living media interfaces: a multi-perspective analysis of biological materials for interaction,听Digital Creativity,听31:1,听1-21,听DOI:听.
Mirela Alistar. Mobile Microfluidics. Bioengineering Journal. DOI: []听
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