Danli Luo

Danli Luo is a PhD candidate in Human-Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington, with an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Her research reimagines scientific instrumentation by embedding programmability, autonomy, and physical intelligence directly into materials, biological processes, and experimental workflows. Drawing from human-computer interaction, robotics, and bio-inspired design, she develops materially intelligent instruments, self-evolving fabrication platforms, and autonomous laboratory systems used by restoration ecologists, materials scientists, synthetic biologists, and educators.

Talk Title: Building Living Instruments for Scientific Inquiry

Scientific discovery depends on physical instruments, yet most remain rigid, infrastructure-heavy, and confined to specialized laboratories, excluding many practitioners and slowing innovation. In contrast, software is programmable, scalable, and continually updated. This gap raises a central question: what if physical scientific instruments could evolve to match the flexibility of software? My research addresses this by developing Living Instruments—programmable physical systems that introduce software-like adaptability into materials, biological processes, and experimental workflows. I pursue this vision through three core capabilities: material responsiveness that encodes autonomous sensing and actuation without electronics; fabrication engines that parameterize biological growth as a controllable process; and evolving automation that transforms experiments into self-driving workflows. In this talk, I will present systems ranging from self-burying seed carriers to fungi-based bio-fabrication platforms to modular bioreactors that evolve protocols in real time, illustrating how Living Instruments chart a path toward flexible, adaptive scientific tools that democratize experimentation and accelerate discovery.

Location: Etcheverry Hall 3108, 2521 Hearst Ave, Berkeley, CA