Research labs, centers and groups
Click on the links below to learn about selected research
programs in:
For a complete listing of research labs, centers, and programs,
please visit our departments' research pages or peruse our
research site.
Engineering for Human Health
Faculty strengths and cross-school collaboration include biomedical
imaging, regenerative medicine, bioinformatics, waterborne disease,
and metabolic engineering.
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Tissue and Metabolic Engineering
Laboratory
PI: Kyongbum Lee, Acting Chair,
Associate Professor, Chemical and
Biological Engineering
Researchers in the Tissue and
Metabolic Engineering Laboratory
study cellular metabolism and its
role in directing biological
function. The researchers' goals
include gaining fundamental insights
into the biochemical and biophysical
cues contributing to the regulation
of metabolic pathways, and
developing technologies for
assembling, characterizing and
manipulating these systems. The
vision is to translate these basic
insights and technologies into
applications leading to engineering
practice and meaningful health
outcomes.
Image: Confocoal microscopy images of human
umbilical vein endothelial cells in co-culture
with adipocytes
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Diffuse Optical Imaging Group
PI: Sergio Fantini, Professor,
Biomedical Engineering
In the Diffuse Optical Imaging
Group, research activities include
near-infrared spectroscopy of tissue
for diagnostic, functional, and
imaging applications. Light
propagation in tissue is modeled
with diffusion theory.
Image: Images from a novel
imaging tool to detect breast cancer
by using safe near-infrared light in
a non-invasive and painless
approach, producing optical
density images and second-derivative
images of a healthy human subject at
every 0.5 nm in the wavelength range
650-900nm. |
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Initiative for the Forecasting and Modeling of
Infectious Diseases
PI:
Elena Naumova, Professor, Civil and
Environmental Engineering
Researchers in the Tufts' Initiative for the
Forecasting and Modeling of Infectious Diseases
(InForMID) conduct research and provide a venue
for training in the fields of computational
epidemiology, conservation medicine,
biostatistics, and bioinformatics with the
emphasis on public health applications. The
mission of the initiative is to improve the
quality of biomedical research and health care
by developing innovative analytical and
computational tools and systems to life-science
researchers, public health professionals, and
policy makers.
Image: A 3D map illustrating part of the
hydrogeology of Ciudadela San MartÃn, Nicaragua.
The map shows water from a contaminated water
table will flow directly toward the areas where
mechanical pumps draw water to distribute to the
community.
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Ultrafast Nonlinear Optics and Biophotonics
Laboratory
PI:
Fiorenzo Omenetto,
Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Researchers in the Ultrafast Nonlinear Optics
and Biophotonics Laboratory are interested in
engineered and biomimetic optical materials
(such as photonic crystals and photonic crystal
fibers) and novel/unconventional organic,
sustainable optical materials for photonics and
optoelectronics. In particular, in close
collaboration with resident biopolymer
expertise, we have pioneered silk optics and we
are interested in the use of silk as a material
for photonics and high technology applications.
Image: Silk can be nano-patterned with
features smaller than 20nm. This allows
manufacturing of structures, such as holographic
gratings, phase masks, beam diffusers and
photonic crystals out of a pure protein film.
The properties of silk allow these devices to be
"biologically activated" offering new
opportunities for sensing and biophotonic
components.
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Tissue
Engineering Resource Center
PI:
David Kaplan, Stern Family
Professor of Engineering,
Department Chair, Biomedical Engineering
Areas of research and technological focus at the
Tissue Engineering Resource Center include, but
are not be limited to: scaffold designs to
control stem cell differentiation; designing new
scaffolds with consideration for mechanical
function, rates of matrix remodeling, cell
responses, and tissue outcomes; advanced
bioreactor systems to impart controlled
environmental stimuli to cells cultured on
scaffolds; characterization of tissues through
nondestructive imaging.
Image: Silk cocoons from the larvae of a
moth, Bombyx mori, are used prominently
in Kaplan's biomedical engineering research.
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Engineering for Sustainability
Faculty strengths and collaborations encompass water and diplomacy,
water quality, climate change mitigation, environmental remediation,
smart structures, alternative energy, and smart grids.
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Nano
Catalysis & Energy Laboratory
PI:
Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos, Robert and
Marcy Haber Endowed Professor in Energy
Sustainability, Chemical and Biological
Engineering
Research conducted at the Tufts Nano-CEL aims at
applying principles of heterogeneous catalysis
to the solution of problems in the production of
clean energy. These include catalytic fuel
conversion to hydrogen-rich gas mixtures, and
oxidation and reduction reactions that convert
pollutants (CO, SO2, NOx) to innocuous species.
Image: Gold atoms and clusters are clearly
visible in 5wt%Au/Fe2O3 catalyst particles used
for CO oxidation and the water-gas shift
reaction.
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Renewable Energy & Applied Photonics
Labs
PI:
Thomas Vandervelde,
John A. and Dorothy M. Adams Faculty
Development Professor, Electrical
and Computer Engineering
In the Renewable Energy & Applied
Photonics (REAP) Labs, researchers
study how light fundamentally
interacts with matter and how that
knowledge can be applied to create
novel technologies. By focusing on
materials physics, REAP researchers
are able to make transformative
improvements in applications for
renewable energy and photodetectors.
Image: An SEM image of a wet
chemistry based copper oxide and
zinc oxide nanowire photovoltaic
cell.
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Integrated Multiphase Environmental Systems
Laboratory
Director and PI:
Andrew Ramsburg, Assistant
Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
PI:
Linda Abriola,, Dean of
Tufts University School of Engineering,
Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
PI:
Kurt Pennell,, Chair and
Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
RResearchers in the Integrated Multiphase
Environmental Systems Laboratory (IMPES) lab use
experiments and mathematical models to explore
the processes that influence the persistence of
contaminants and control the effectiveness of
treatment. Representative application areas for
IMPES laboratory research include: development
of innovative remediation technologies;
quantification of the benefits of partial mass
removal in heterogeneous source-zone
environments; reduction in the uncertainty of
mass discharge estimates; subsurface fate and
transport of nanoparticles; and evaluation of
the in situ biotransformation of organic
contaminants in low substrate environments.
Image: Emulsion-based technologies hold
great promise for localized delivery of remedial
amendments within the subsurface environment.
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Water:
Systems, Science, and Society
PI:
Richard Vogel, WSSS Faculty
Committee Chair, Professor, Civil and
Environmental Engineering
The Water: Systems, Science and Society (WSSS)
Ph.D. and MA/MS research program provides the
interdisciplinary perspectives and tools to
manage water-related problems around the world.
Research in the WSSS programs falls in six major
areas: Water, Climate and Environmental Change;
Water and Public Health; Water Pollution and
Remediation Science; Watershed Management;
Water, Food and Livelihood Security; and Water
and National and International Security.
Image: Phytoplankton blooms, like this one
in the Bay of Bengal, are one way that
engineers, such as Shafik Islam, can forecast
cholera outbreaks.
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Engineering the Human/Technology Interface
Faculty strengths include development and dissemination of
educational technologies, robotics and cognition, sensors, human
factors engineering, visualization.
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Nanoscale Integrated Sensors and
Circuits Laboratory
PI:
Sameer Sonkusale,
Associate Professor, Electrical and
Computer Engineering
Researchers in the Nano Lab utilize
advances in emerging areas of
nanotechnology, micro- and nano-fabrication
and metamaterials with conventional
areas of integrated circuits and
systems for diverse applications in
sensing, imaging, computing,
communications, medical diagnostics
and instrumentation.
Image: Flexible electronics
(foreground) and unique
metamaterials operating in terahertz
frequencies (background)
have diverse applications.
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Human
Robot Interaction Laboratory
PI:
Matthias Scheutz, Associate
Professor, Computer Science
Researchers in the Human Robot Interaction
Laboratory study affective control and evolution
interactions between affect and cognition;
cognitive robotics for human-robot interaction;
embodied situated natural langage interactions;
multi-scale agent-based and cognitive modeling;
and architecture development environments for
complex robots.
Image: Research in the Human Robot
Interaction Lab is focused on enabling robots to
interact with people using natural language.
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