Microbial Devices (RET Project)

Our research group (el Microbial Integration Group) at Boston University develops microbial devices: systems that integrate engineered microorganisms with materials, microfluidics, and electronic or mechanical components to sense, compute, and respond to real-world environments. Our work spans applications in human health, environmental monitoring, and biomanufacturing, with an emphasis on making living systems robust, deployable, and measurable outside of traditional laboratory settings.

The participant will contribute to the design, assembly, and testing of a modular microbial device platform, focusing on how biological signals from living cells can be measured, stabilized, or interfaced with physical hardware. Specific experimental tasks will be tailored to the participant’s background, but may include culturing non-pathogenic microbes, preparing simple formulations or materials, assembling benchtop device prototypes, and collecting and analyzing experimental data.