Full Name
Deblina Sarkar
Job Title
Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences; AT&T Career Development Professor
Company
MIT
Brief Biography
Deblina Sarkar is an Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Career Development Chair Professor at the MIT Media Lab. She is also the founder of Cahira Technologies, which is developing autonomous, surgery-free brain–computer interfaces. Working at the convergence of nano-electronics, bioelectronics, artificial intelligence, and brain–machine interfaces, she creates technologies that blur the boundary between biological and electronic systems—opening new possibilities for medicine and for extending human capabilities beyond biological limitations.
Her research combines engineering, applied physics, and biology to establish new paradigms for life–machine symbiosis. Her lab developed Circulatronics: the first autonomous, non-surgical nano-electronic brain implants, designed to make neurological care more accessible by eliminating the risks and costs associated with surgery. Beyond treating diseases, she envisions employing these distributed networks of nano-electronic interfaces, safely integrated throughout the brain, to enable the convergence of biological and artificial intelligence and expand human potential.
Her other inventions include magnetically actuated nano-antennas for treating drug-resistant brain cancer; a quantum-mechanical transistor with a channel only six atoms thick that overcomes fundamental power limitations; nano-sensors capable of wirelessly recording bioelectrical signals from thousands of sites simultaneously with micrometer-scale spatial resolution; CircTrek: a wearable device for tracking circulating cells in the bloodstream in real time with single-cell precision; and Cell Rover: an ultra-miniaturized antenna capable of operating wirelessly from inside a living cell. Together, these advances point toward a future in which intelligent electronic systems can interface with the body at cellular and subcellular scales.
Sarkar has received numerous awards and honors, including the Innovative Young Engineer recognition from the National Academy of Engineering, the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, the MIND Prize, recognition as one of Science News’ 10 Scientists to Watch, the Distinguished Scientist Award, and the NSF CAREER Award.
Contact: deblina@mit.edu
Her research combines engineering, applied physics, and biology to establish new paradigms for life–machine symbiosis. Her lab developed Circulatronics: the first autonomous, non-surgical nano-electronic brain implants, designed to make neurological care more accessible by eliminating the risks and costs associated with surgery. Beyond treating diseases, she envisions employing these distributed networks of nano-electronic interfaces, safely integrated throughout the brain, to enable the convergence of biological and artificial intelligence and expand human potential.
Her other inventions include magnetically actuated nano-antennas for treating drug-resistant brain cancer; a quantum-mechanical transistor with a channel only six atoms thick that overcomes fundamental power limitations; nano-sensors capable of wirelessly recording bioelectrical signals from thousands of sites simultaneously with micrometer-scale spatial resolution; CircTrek: a wearable device for tracking circulating cells in the bloodstream in real time with single-cell precision; and Cell Rover: an ultra-miniaturized antenna capable of operating wirelessly from inside a living cell. Together, these advances point toward a future in which intelligent electronic systems can interface with the body at cellular and subcellular scales.
Sarkar has received numerous awards and honors, including the Innovative Young Engineer recognition from the National Academy of Engineering, the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, the MIND Prize, recognition as one of Science News’ 10 Scientists to Watch, the Distinguished Scientist Award, and the NSF CAREER Award.
Contact: deblina@mit.edu
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