Architecture for Human Nature: The quest for embodied resonance in the Modern Habitat

From a biological perspective, I have researched how our bodies have evolved in the biosphere for millions of years and therefore we are wired to have an incredibly rich diet of sensory stimuli. I have distinguished some of our intrinsic needs, and accompanied them with the latest design tools from the field of environmental psychology and neuro...

Geometrically articulated Bio-receptive concrete facades

Bio-receptivity is a natural growth of small plant species on stony surfaces with minimum external influence. It is commonly found around us on old buildings, crevices and corners, damp and moist areas. Bio-receptivity has always been viewed as a negative phenomenon in the public eye due to its random and shabby growth conditions. However, this...

Modelling, analysis and verification of the biological coherent feedforward loop network

The world of molecular biology is composed by a complex network of interactions that are analogous to electric circuits. They govern the functions required for life, from metabolism to locomotion. In these networks, the presence of network motifs were identified, recurring elements supposedly kept by evolution. One of them is called the...

Acceleration of Seed Extension for BWA-MEM DNA Alignment Using GPUs

DNA aligning is a compute-intensive and time-consuming task required for all further DNA processing. It consists in finding for each DNA string from a sample its location in a reference genome. Usual techniques for short reads (hundreds of bases) involve seed-extension, where a small matching seed is found with quick search through FM-index and...

Microbial Desalination: An exploratory research to assess the potential of desalination by microbial methods

As freshwater resources are predicted to become more scarce in the future, desalination will become a more prevalent treatment method. Microbial desalination, defined as the use of microbial processes to remove ions from a saline solution, may have potential as a new desalination method to produce water for domestic, agricultural or industrial...

Growing buildings: How to design circular and sustainable buildings by using living organisms in architecture

In recent years, architecture has shifted towards more sustainable and circular design. The scarcity of building materials and environmental awareness of the building industry generated a need for new techniques and developments, pushing architects and designers to increasingly turn towards biological and natural processes. Nonetheless, the...

Faster than the Speed of Life: Accelerating Developmental Biology Simulations with GPUs and FPGAs

Life scientists are faced with the tough challenge of developing high-performance computer simulations of their increasingly complex models. BioDynaMo is an open-source biological simulation platform that aims to alleviate them from the intricacies that go into development. Life scientists are able to base their models on top of BioDynaMo’s...

Synthetic Biology For the Masses: Hardware that makes engineering biology easier for the next generation of innovators

Synthetic biology is the cutting-edge field of designing biological systems to perform as genetically-engineered technology capable of useful tasks. It has huge potential for many revolutionary applications. These include the development of smart medicine - such as bacteria programmed to seek out and destroy cancer cells [Chakravarti, 2015], or...

Isogeometric Analysis of a Reaction-Diffusion Model for Human Brain Development

In my thesis I present a numerical scheme to tackle the Gray-Scott Reaction-Diffusion Model for Human Brain Development. The numerical scheme is based on the principles of Isogeometric Analysis and a number of simulations are given in the report.

Control of gene expression in E. coli using light induction

Biomaterials in nature provide abundant source of inspiration for the design and synthesis of novel high-performance materials. Nacre, a bio-mineralized material found in the inner lining of seashells has recently gained attraction due to its impressive material properties and eco-friendly nature. This ultra-tough coating could become...

Biomimetics in Architecture: Nature inspired design

My project can be linked to the overlap between the fields of architecture and biology. The research grew out from a fascination for nature and started at the very beginning of the field of biomimetics. It is a search to intelligent solutions from nature for design problems in architecture.

La casa del Paguro!

From biology to craftmanship. A possible marine research center for the benthic fauna of the north sea. The belief in contradiction as a possible way to determine tension in design lead the whole exploration. How an architectural composition can relate to environmental conditions, so how natural and artificial collide, how smooth and rigid...

Logic gene network design: A CAD tool based on modularity and standardization

Motivation: Synthetic biology aims at building biological systems for useful purposes. Relatively simple gene networks have been engineered, but the design process is limited. Many papers advocate the use of engineering concepts like standardization and modular design to simplify the design process and enable the design of more complex systems....