Call for Papers

Please contact the symposium organizers with questions.

In billions of years, natural evolution has perfected many biological machines that are multifunctional and sustainable. This has inspired researchers to realize artificial systems that recapitulate biological design and function by using novel materials and architectures with the ability to process electronic or photonic signals, as well as by exploring the integration of living organisms with synthetic organic or inorganic components. The goal of the symposium is to discuss the state-of-the-art in functional materials, devices and processes for realizing biohybrid systems and soft functional interfaces that mimic the natural communication/signaling mechanisms in biological systems. This symposium will broadly cover emerging materials and architectures used in abiotic-biotic hybrid systems and functional interfaces, their fundamental design and properties, as well as their applications for biomedical technologies, actuators, or sensors integrated with microorganisms, cells, and tissues, including plants. Bridging the world of biology together with other technological areas such as photonics, electronics, and nanotechnology, this interdisciplinary symposium will bring together the cutting-edge chemical, physical, and biological aspects of current and future biohybrid and soft functional interfaces.

Topics will include:

• Soft electronic materials and biological systems interface
• Functional electroactive biomaterials
• Biodegradable electroactive small molecules and polymers
• Conducting and multifunctional hydrogels
• Flexible, stretchable active/passive materials forused in bioelectronics
• Novel biological signal transduction approaches
• Devices and materials that combine multiple sensing or stimulation modalities
• Biosensing/stimulation devices, and closed loop sensing/stimulation
• Brain-machine interfacing and health monitoring
• Materials for I/O neuronal interfaces
• Plant micro- and nanobionics
• Plant biohybrid systems
• Microorganisms and cells engineering for biosensing and energy applications
• Bio-fabrication with electroactive systems
• Cell-based biohybrids systems for biomedical applications

Invited Speakers (tentative):

• Polina Anikeeva (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
• Guillermo Bazan (National University of Singapore, Singapore)
• Ardemis Boghossian (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
• Ritchie Chen (Stanford University, USA)
• Tzahi Cohen-Karni (Carnegie Mellon University, USA)
• Tracy Cui (University of Pittsburgh, USA)
• Tal Dvir (Tel Aviv University, Israel)
• Gianluca Farinola (Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Italy)
• Guosong Hong (Stanford University, USA)
• Neel Joshi (Northeastern University, USA)
• Dae-Hyeong Kim (Seoul National University, Republic of Korea)
• Stéphanie P. Lacour (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
• Róisín Owens (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)
• Kit Parker (Harvard University, USA)
• Giuseppe Paterno (Politecnico di Milano, Italy)
• Jacob Robinson (Rice University, USA)
• Alberto Salleo (Stanford University, USA)
• Francesca Santoro (RWTH Aachen University, Germany)
• Deblina Sarkar (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
• Su Ryon Shin (Brigham and Women's Hospital, USA)
• Michael Strano (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
• Bozhi Tian (The University of Chicago, USA)
• Claudia Tortiglione (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy)
• Silvia Vignolini (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)

Symposium Organizers