Mirela Alistar

Mirela Alistar (assistant professor, ATLAS Institute, Computer Science) received her PhD from the Technical University of Denmark in 2014, and until 2018, she was a postdoc in Patrick Baudish's lab at Hasso Plattner Institute in Germany. Her research investigates the extent to which we can change healthcare to make it a personal process. Mirela is an active contributor to the DIYBio movement, having led and co-founded community wetlabs. In this context, she organizes interactive performances, art installations and open workshops, in order to engage the public in direct interaction with living materials (e.g., bacteria, viruses, fungi).

Talk Title: Led by Livingness: co-engineering with organisms

My research is an interplay of biology, engineering and art. At the technical level, I investigate biomaterials for tangible interaction and digital microfluidic biochips for personalized healthcare. At an artistic level, my research focuses on bridging the gap between humans and non-human nature, e.g., using microbiomes as a source for sustainability, and bioluminescence as a guidance for escaping darkness. I am also passionate about researching microfluidic biochips, devices that enable direct interaction of humans with their microbiome for diagnosis purposes. So far, I have built systems based on biochips to serve as personal laboratories: small portable devices that people can own and use to develop customized bio-protocols ("bio-apps"). This talk will give a glimpse of the future as I imagine it: computing interfaces that can biodegrade, and personal laboratories that can democratize healthcare.

Location: Morphing Matter Lab, Etcheverry Hall 5149, 2521 Hearst Ave, Berkeley, CA