ATLS 201C
Mirela (assistant professor, ATLAS Institute, Computer Science) investigates the extent to which we can change healthcare to make it a personal process. Her research focuses around microfluidic biochips, devices that听enable direct interaction of humans with their microbiome for diagnosis purposes. So far听Mirela听has 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").听
Mirela听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).
Mirela听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.听Mirela鈥檚 work is published in听top-tier journals and conferences (IEEE TCAD) and has been demonstrated at venues such as IEEE ESWeek and Molecular Communications.听Mirela听has served as a guest editor for Current Biotechnology journal (CBNT) and as a reviewer for venues such as Applied Materials and Interfaces, DATE, TCAD, ToDAES, NanoCom and UIST.
Outreach:听Engaging Underrepresented Students (funded by Google exploreCSR)
Projects
- Alganyl: Biodegradable Plastic
- Microalgae Bioreactor听
- MyCo Domicilia
- Nurturing Light
- Personal Biochips
- "Lab Grade" Food
- SCOBY Breastplate
- Self-Cleaning Textiles
- Reclaym Our Compost
- Designing听with听Bioluminescence
- A Desktop Biofiber Spinning Machine for Smart Textiles Design
Publications
Eldy S. Lazaro Vasquez,听Mirela Alistar,听Laura Devendorf, and听Michael L. Rivera. 2024.听. In:听Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 鈥�24), (Honolulu, HI, May 11鈥�16, 2024).
Eldy S. Lazaro Vasquez,听Lily M Gabriel,听Mikhaila Friske,听Shanel Wu,听Sasha De Koninck,听Laura Devendorf, and听Mirela Alistar. 2023. "". In:听Adjunct Proceedings of the 2023 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing &听the 2023 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computing (UbiComp/ISWC '23 Adjunct).听(October 08, 2023).
Dreycey Albin,听Lukas Buecherl,听Eitan Kochavi,听Elise Niehaus,听Sasha Novack,听Shenali Uragoda, Chris J. Myers, and听Mirela Alistar. 2023. "". In:听IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. (July 14, 2023).
Fiona Bell,听Michelle Ramsahoye,听Joshua Coffie,听Julia Tung, and听Mirela Alistar. 2023. 鈥溾��. In:听Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS 鈥�23), (Pittsburgh, PA, July 10鈥�14, 2023).
Netta Ofer听and听Mirela Alistar. 2023.听"". In:听Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems听(Hamburg, Germany, April 23-28, 2023).
Fiona Bell,听Derrek Chow,听Eldy S. Lazaro Vasquez,听Laura Devendorf, and听Mirela Alistar. 2023. "". In:听Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction听(TEI '23)听(Warsaw, Poland, February 26 - March 1, 2023)鈥�. 听[Best Pictorial Award]
Fiona Bell,听Derrek Chow,听Hyelin Choi, and听Mirela Alistar. 2023. "". In:听Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction听(TEI '23)听(Warsaw, Poland, February 26 - March 1, 2023)鈥�.听
Eldy S. Lazaro Vasquez,听Netta Ofer,听Shanel Wu,听Mary Etta West,听Mirela Alistar听and听Laura Devendorf.听2022. Exploring Biofoam as a Material for Tangible Interaction. In听Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS 鈥�22), Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1525-1529.听听(June 13-17, 2022鈥擵irtual Event, Australia).听
Fiona Bell,听Netta Ofer,听Hyelin Choi,听Ella McQuaid,听Ethan Frier, and听Mirela Alistar.听2022. Biomaterial Playground: Engaging with Bio-based Materiality. In听Extended Abstracts of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 鈥�22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1鈥�4. DOI:听听(New Orleans, LA鈥擜pril 29-May 5, 2022).
Fiona Bell,听Netta Ofer, and听Mirela Alistar. 2022. ReClaym our Compost: Biodegradable Clay for Intimate Making. In听Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems听(CHI 鈥�22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1鈥�14. DOI:听听(New Orleans, LA, USA鈥擜pril 29-May 5, 2022)听[Best Paper Honorable Mention Award].
Fiona Bell,听Ella McQuaid, and听Mirela Alistar.听2022. Alganyl: Cooking Sustainable Clothing. Dise帽a 20: Design and Somatic Sensibilities. Article 4. DOI:听
Fiona Bell,听Latifa Al-Naimi,听Ella McQuaid, and听Mirela Alistar. 2022. Designing with Alganyl. In听Sixteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction听(TEI '22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 2, 1-14. DOI:听听(Daejeon, Republic of Korea (virtual) Feb. 13-16, 2022).
Fiona Bell听and听Mirela Alistar. 2022. Designing with Alganyl: A Hands-on Exploration of Biodegradable Plastics. In听Sixteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction听(TEI '22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 56, 1-5. DOI:听听(Daejeon, Republic of Korea (virtual)鈥揊eb. 13-16, 2022).
Purnendu,听Sasha M Novack, Eric Acome, Christoph Keplinger,听Mirela Alistar,听Mark D Gross,听Carson Bruns, and听Daniel Leithinger. 2021. Electriflow: Soft Electrohydraulic Building Blocks for Prototyping Shape-changing Interfaces.听Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1280鈥�1290. DOI:听(June 28-July 2,听2021鈥�Virtual Event).
Netta Ofer,听Fiona Bell听and听Mirela Alistar. 2021. Designing Direct Interactions with Bioluminescent Algae. In听Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021听(DIS 鈥�21), June 28-July 2, 2021, Virtual Event, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 23 pages.听
Fiona Bell, Alice Hong, Andreea Danielescu, Aditi Maheshwari, Ben Greenspan, Hiroshi Ishii,听Laura Devendorf, and听Mirela Alistar. 2021. Self-deStaining Textiles: Designing Interactive Systems with Fabric, Stains and Light.听In听Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 鈥�21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1鈥�12. (Yokohama, Japan (virtual)鈥揗ay 8-13, 2021).听pdf.
Timothy Merritt, Foad Hamidi,听Mirela Alistar听& Marta DeMenezes听(2020)听Living media interfaces: a multi-perspective analysis of biological materials for interaction,听Digital Creativity,听31:1,听1-21,听DOI:听.
Fiona Bell听and听Mirela Alistar. 2021. Alganyl.听Patent No.听US 63/184,992, Filed April 26th, 2021.
Mirela Alistar听and Margherita Pevere. 2020. Semina Aeternitatis: Using Bacteria for Tangible Interaction with Data. In听Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA 鈥�20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1鈥�13. DOI:听(Honolulu, Hawaii (virtual)鈥揂pril 25-30, 2020).
Timothy Merritt, Foad Hamidi,听Mirela Alistar听& Marta DeMenezes听(2020)听Living media interfaces: a multi-perspective analysis of biological materials for interaction,听Digital Creativity,听31:1,听1-21,听DOI:听.
Mirela Alistar, 2019.听.听Bioengineering Journal. DOI: []听
Mirela Alistar, Urs Gaudenz. 2017.听听An Integrated Do-It-Yourself Platform for Personal Use of Biochips.听Bioengineering Journal.
Mirela Alistar, Paul Pop, Jan Madsen. 2016.听.听IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems听(TCAD), 764-777.
Alexandra Ion, Johannes Frohnhofen,听Mirela Alistar, Ludwig Wall, Jack Lindsay, Pedro Lopes, Hsiang-Ting Chen, Patrick Baudisch. 2016.听.听Proc. ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology听(UIST鈥�16), 529-539.听[Honorable Mention Award].
Paul Pop,听Mirela听Alistar, Elena Stuart, Jan Madsen.听. Springer 2016.
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