Ritu Raman
@DrRituRaman
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Eugene Bell Assistant Prof @MIT โข tissue engineering the neuromuscular system to restore mobility and power robots โข ๐บ๐ธ via ๐ฎ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ช
Cambridge, MA
Joined February 2014
A few months agoโฆ we started a lifelong collaboration between the Raman Lab at MIT and the Flynn Lab at Harvard! @raflynn5 ๐ค
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The two engineers who raised this engineer ๐๐ฝโโ๏ธ finally got to see my office and lab @MIT! So proud to bring the Raman Family to the Raman Lab, and such fun to remember the first time we were on this campus together for a college tour in 2007โฆ.!. #ImmigrantStories ๐ฅฐ๐๐ฝ
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PhD rejections from 15/16 programs, accepted by the one and only @UofIllinois. Illinois taught me to think like a scientist & trained me for my current role as a Prof @MIT. Reminder to those struggling with rejections rn - this is not a measure of your worth or your potential ๐ช๐ฝ.
I love seeing people more open about struggles along the journey. PhD rejections:.UC San Diego.Vanderbilt University.Washington University in St. Louis. PhD Acceptance:.UC Irvine. I used to be embarrassed about this but it really only takes ONE ๐๐พ and I am thriving โจ.
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Proud of the 30th bday gift I gave myself โค๏ธ My book, Biofabrication @mitpress, is out today! Shares how biological materials are used for medicine, lab-grown meat, robots, & more! Also discusses the ethics, economics, & sustainability of biofabrication: .
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Tough times teach you life is a team sport. My parents, friends, & mentors supported me through a 2-year pandemic job hunt. They are the reason I get to be Prof. Ritu Raman @MIT ๐๐ฝ My lab @MITMechE will engineer the neuromuscular system to restore mobility & power robots ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฆพ
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The face of a woman who woke up at 5am today because the only time the plumbers could install her brand new incubators was at 6amโฆ. One step closer to our labโs big move in day!!! ๐ช๐ฝ. Now for some teaโฆ ๐ต #newPI
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Sometimes I look at equations I wrote and get intimidated by myself ๐
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The face of a woman who just read *every single paper* in the โI should read thisโ pile of open Zotero tabs, email drafts, and phone screenshotsโฆ ๐ตโ๐ซ Inspired by all the new advancements in biofabrication, biohybrid robotics, and neuromuscular disease and ready to tackle 2024! ๐ช๐ฝ
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Super grateful to be awarded the dโArbeloff Career Development Chair Professorship @MIT! This endowed chair gives me and my lab extra support to develop as scientific leaders while pursuing impactful research๐ฉ๐ฝโ๐ฌ. @MITMechE #WomenInSTEM #WomenInScience #NewPI #Academia
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These two #newPI kids just got their office doors painted - guess that makes us officially professors!!! So lucky to have an awesome group of fellow new faculty @MITMechE to share these exciting milestones ๐ฅฐ. @CarlosMPortela @MIT #academia
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Five year anniversary of the day I became a U.S. citizen!!! ๐ฅฐ . Taking some time today to reflect on the #immigrant experience and finding a home in #Boston โค๏ธ๐๐ฝ
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When itโs only 2 weeks into the semester and your lecture notes look like thisโฆ. ๐ .#WelcomeToMIT #Firehose. @MIT @MITMechE
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Eugene Bell's 1981 Science paper demonstrated engraftment of tissue engineered skin in a rat, marking a milestone in a new field. So honored to be named the Eugene Bell Career Development Professor of Tissue Engineering @MIT and hope our lab can carry forward Prof. Bell's legacy!
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Our lab was just awarded an @NSF #CAREER award to support research, pedagogy, and outreach on #biofabrication and the mechanics of motor control! We are excited to deepen understanding of the neuromuscular interface and enhance inclusion and diversity in biomaker spaces @MIT ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฆพ
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One of the most exciting (& scariest) things Iโve had to do as a #newPI is managing the construction of a custom #biofabrication lab from scratch - stopping by the site to see our design coming to life is *thrilling*. Stay tuned for the launch of our brand new space @MIT soon!
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Oh whatโs this? Just three of @MITโs newest profs ๐ฅฐ๐ฅฐ๐ฅฐ. Really looking forward to kicking off faculty life with amazing new friends like @LozaTadesse & @iiabate! . @MITMechE @mit_dmse
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We started out as Simone and Ritu, then became Dr. and Dr., and now we get to be Prof. Douglas-Green and Prof. Raman. I believe this is what the kids call a โglow upโ ๐๐ช๐ฝ. @DrBlackBoots @MIT @GeorgiaTech
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Healing traumatic muscle injuries is a longstanding challenge in tissue engineering. Our new study in @Biomaterials_ shows that actuating optogenetic muscle grafts with light *completely restores* functional mobility in mice within 2 weeks of injury! ๐งต1/3.
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Big news for our lab! As part of the @DeptOfDefense Young Investigator Program, weโve received an early career grant from the Army Research Office to support our work on biology-powered sensing and control for soft robots ๐๐ฝ.#NewPI #WomenInSTEM #Robotics #Biofabrication @MITMechE
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Been reading a lot of rec letters & would love to see more mentors be conscious of implicit gender & race bias in writing. It's great that someone is "nice" & "friendly", but would LOVE to hear about their technical expertise & leadership. Sharing a resource & looking for others!
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The Raman Lab just got our very first grant!!! So thankful for support from the @MIT MCELS center that will help us study & control intercellular signaling in engineered tissues. Stay tuned for science! .@MITMechE #AcademicTwitter #newPI
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Reviewing grad apps to MIT as a #newPI is so hard! My ritual is to first read my own app materials from 2012 to remind myself what it was like to apply and help me set reasonable expectations for students. Anyone have pro tips on how to approach these reviews in a fair manner?
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Lots of papers and grants due in the next month soโฆ obviously the perfect time to be in a cast ๐
New #newPI struggle level unlocked. Grateful for modern medicine and a decade+ of musculoskeletal research in my pocket ๐ช๐ฝ
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Being a #newPI comes with many challenges, among the hardest being learning how to teach core engineering concepts in engaging ways. Thankyou to the students who have patiently supported my growth as a teacher, and to the senior faculty mentors that set me an inspiring example ๐๐ฝ.
The School of Engineering has awarded Professor @DrRituRaman of @mitmeche the 2024 Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching. The award is given annually to faculty members that embody the tradition of high-quality engineering education at MIT.
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Being a #newPI means rushing to your basement lab on a rainy morning to mop up the water before it reaches your precious brand new equipment ๐
. cc: @LozaTadesse @ProfZhaoMIT fyi, please alert your labs!
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Deeply honored to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists & Engineers (PECASE) from the @WhiteHouse - 7 years after becoming a U.S. citizen! Grateful for the family, friends, teachers, mentors, & students who supported my journey ๐๐ฝ.
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You know youโre mathing too hard when you hear the audible sighs of twenty tired MIT undergrads behind youโฆ ๐. #proflife
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So excited to welcome Dr. @tamara_rossy as a postdoc in our group @MITMechE!!! Her expertise in tissue engineering & mechanobiology, developed in @alexpersat 's lab, will help us advance understanding of diseases that impact mobility. Her latest paper:.
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The Raman Lab @MIT is hiring a #postdoc interested in 3D biofabrication of multicellular systems - emphasis on neuromuscular #TissueEngineering. Job details & info on how to apply are below โฌ๏ธ .Join our dynamic team! Retweets appreciated ๐ฅฐ.@MITMechE #sciencejobs #AcademicTwitter
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Our labโs best ideas come from nature. I remember sitting by this lake daydreaming about how aquatic organisms moveโฆ thrilled that this pic's happy ending is receiving a @USNavyResearch YIP for adaptive underwater robots powered by biology!!!. @MITMechE
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All dressed up to film a lecture for an online MIT course on rapid prototyping! Love how many forms of pedagogy and science communication I get to engage with in my job ๐ฅฐ๐๐ฝ @MITMechE is a wonderful place!!!
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In 2017, @jmigueljd and I formed a โpostdoc support teamโ to help each other shape happy & productive postdocs in the Langer Lab. Itโs 2024, and I am SO excited to see Prof. Jimenez start his lab across the river @BU_Tweets! . Officially rebranding to โ#NewPI support teamโ
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My New Years resolution for 2021 was to start a new jobโฆ. And now thatโs a wrap on the first semester of professor life! Feeling very very very grateful to have such an exciting job and lucky to have the opportunity to keep sciencing my way into 2022 ๐ฅฐ๐๐ฝ
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Great article featuring my former boss and forever mentor. Will never forget he took the time to call and counsel me through my mid-pandemic-career-crisis despite it being the most stressful of times for the Langer Lab and Moderna ๐๐ฝ Kindness = Success ๐ฅฐ.
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Meet the Raman Lab, v1.0 ๐ Thrilled to start this journey w/Dr. Liz Calle, Angel Bu, & Naomi Lynch!!! Our goal is to restore mobility to those who have lost it after disease/trauma & to deploy bioactuators as functional components in machines. Learn more:
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So grateful to have our new lab honored by a Hisako Terasaki Young Innovator Award, and happy to celebrate among great mentors and leaders in the field including @NPeppas @khademh @AManbachi! Thanks to the @TerasakiInst for an amazing event ๐๐ฝ
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This week in our lab meeting: an MIT grad student has some very important data to present on a year-long experimentโฆ. #science #cattitude
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Celebrating wins with my work bestie, Prof. @CarlosMPortela! So excited we made it to the ~cover~ of MIT @techreview, sharing our vision for new materials that will change how engineers design and build. Learn more: . @MITMechE @MIT #research #academia
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Did you know that when you become a Distinguished Chair Professor at Harvard, they give you an actual chair??? Huge congratulations to @MrJeffKarp for this wonderful recognition of pioneering contributions to science coupled with kind mentorship of the next generation! #RoleModel
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The sweetest words in the English language might be โI'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been accepted for publicationโ .๐ฅน๐ญ๐๐ฝ. Crying some #newPI happy tears! Every paper means SO MUCH for a new lab.
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My advice for young folks in STEM is *not* to focus purely on โfollowing your passionsโ but think, instead, on how you can use your talents to provide a service to your community. Thanks to @mit_ilp for the chance to share my career path and research:
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itโs my 5 year bostoniversary - Iโve never had a 5 year anniversary anywhere else. taking the day to reflect on how lovely it is to feel like I am โfromโ somewhere ๐ฅฐ
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If you like fun, action, & adventure - read @TheCurieSociety - a comic about elite undercover #WomenInSTEM who go on high stakes missions & save the world! The authors worked with real @MIT scientists (like me!) to write science so cool itโs basically science fiction ๐ฎ #scicomm
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Super excited to be named to the @MIT @techreview #35InnovatorsUnder35 list! Thank you to the mentors + collaborators who helped me explore new scientific frontiers - I can't wait to build our #biohybrid future!.#WomenInSTEM #WomenInScience #science #STEM.
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Saying goodbye to @DrBlackBoots as she wraps up her postdoc and kicks off her career as PROFESSOR Douglas-Green @GeorgiaTech @CoulterBME! Weโve been on this journey together since our time as baby grad students.๐ฅฒโค๏ธ๐ช๐ฝ #newPI
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Highlight of my week = getting to see my PhD advisor for the first time since becoming a professor. So blessed to have such a kind and supportive lifelong mentor in @RashidB23819196! . #newPI #academia #mentor .@uofigrainger
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Happy to be featured on MITโs industrial liaison program website! Read more to learn about our research & why I hope to forge meaningful connections between our academic lab and industry in the coming years โฌ๏ธ. #WomenInScience #WomenInSTEM #NewPI #Academia
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Thrilled to serve as Chief Science Advisor for @TheCurieSociety graphic novel featuring awesome #WomenInScience! I loved working with the writers + artists who put together this action-packed book filled with realistic depictions of emerging tech ๐ฆพ @TheCurieSociety @mitpress ๐งต
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Having a weird #newPI experience of walking into my lab & seeing the space being shaped by my group when Iโm not around. We have a word of the week?! And all our equipment has names?! .Ex:.Autoclave: Dr. Tutti.-80: Ultimate Frozone.Centrifuges: Mama Spin, Baby Spin, & Spin Kiddo
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In London for a weddingโฆ but canโt resist opportunities for science tourism! Super excited to visit the Centre for Gene Therapy and Regenerative Medicine today to learn about their translational work in neuromuscular disease! @KCLstemcells .#science #research #medicine #biotech
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BMES 2013 -> BMES 2023. Revisiting Seattle (site of my very first BMES conference as a grad student!) with a decade of good memories of MS, PhD, & postdoc life. Grateful to introduce my young lab to @BMESociety so they can start making their own memories! ๐ฅฐ.#BMES2023 #newPI
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Cells feel and respond to forces. Our platform for Magnetic Matrix Actuation (#MagMA) enables noninvasive mechanical stimulation of tissues. We use MagMA to program form & function muscle as a 1st demo of future apps in #mechanobiology & #robotics:. ๐งต
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10k!!!! Iโm not cool enough to pretend not to be excited about this milestone!!! So grateful for the #scitwitter and #scicomm community that has offered support, advice, and relatable memes throughout my academic journey โค๏ธ. #AcademicTwitter #WomenInSTEM
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Excited to be chosen as a Kavli Fellow and to present my work in Biohybrid Design at the @theNASEM Frontiers of #Science symposium this week! A truly special opportunity to learn about the latest in a wide range of scientific disciplines from young pioneers. #womeninscience
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When I was an undergrad I loved cars but was too intimidated to join the Formula 1 design team because I didnโt see that many girls in the machine shop. Today a student told me that the MIT Motorsports team has many women (and in leadership roles!) & Iโm filled with warm fuzzies
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Baby Rituโs biggest dream was to write a book. Proud to share that โBiofabricationโ by Dr. Raman hits the shelves in stores & online Fall 2021, published by @MITpress! This general audience book shares how engineers build w/biology for medicine, agriculture, robots & more! (1/2)
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Things you never want to hear 3 hours into lecturing: โprofessor, we canโt tell the difference between the way you write r and the way you write ฮณโ. ๐ซ gone are the days where Iโm the only person that needed to understand my handwriting, alas ๐ญ
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I suppose getting the first rejections for papers from your lab is a special kind of #newPI milestoneโฆ trying to remember that this is always how the process works ๐ฅบ โฆand of course gearing up for our next attempt ๐ช๐ฝ
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A lot of what I do as a woman is try to regain the confidence I had as a girl - today is #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience, so do the world a favor & show a girl she can make an impact with #science! If she can see it then she can be it. #WomenInScience #WomenInSTEM
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An email from middle school Ritu to Dr. James Van Allen, the space scientist who discovered the Van Allen radiation belts. He responded. A nice reminder that small kind gestures can make a big impact on a young mind interested in science โบ๏ธ
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Those last minute administrative checks/edits may have given me heart palpitations butโฆ first R01 submitted!!! Trying to remember that the milestone at this point is just ~submitting~ and not the outcome ๐ฅน๐๐ฝ #newPI
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1000 citations!!! Very proud of this science milestone and deeply grateful for the mentors and collaborators who helped me get here ๐๐ฝโค๏ธ
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What's that sound? The sound of another patent dropping! Eeek so excited about this new issued patent on our invention of "muscle-powered biological machines" - the product of years of hard work @Illinois_Alma! . #WomenInSTEM #Patent #Innovation #WomensHistoryMonth
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Lab cleanup day! Grateful to this crew for tackling this important chore with smiles โบ๏ธ๐ช๐ฝ @MITMechE
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Our lab celebrated #Nowruz for the first time thanks to amazing food and a great presentation from Dr. @FerdowsAfghah! Spring is in full swing @MITMechE ๐ท
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Why *buy* lab equipment when you can BUILD it? Check out the amazing 3D bioprinter built by graduate students in my lab, Naomi and Angel, at the @CarnegieMellon Bioprinting workshop hosted by @RegenBio! So excited to see what youโll print with it @MITMechE ๐
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City inspectors just signed off on us moving into our brand new renovated lab at MIT - 2 years in the making, custom built for #biofabrication & #biohybrid #robotics!!! Just in time for our group to double in size in the next month ๐ณ Stay tuned for some #newPI content. @MITMechE
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So excited to be a finalist in the @MIT Faculty Founder Initiative & grateful to @snbhatia for accelerating #biotech #entrepreneurship led by women! Our lab @MITMechE is excited to explore ways our research can help preserve & restore healthy mobility ๐ช๐ฝ.
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One of the most rewarding things about my job is seeing young people grow into amazing engineers. A highlight of this week was catching up with Ngoc Vo, a former high school mentee and current Midshipman and Mechanical Engineering student in the U.S. Naval Academy! #WomenInSTEM
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Gave a talk @johnshopkinsu 's annual #WomenInSTEM symposium about learning to be a leaderโฆ made me think about the 5 rules Iโm following as I grow in my career (feedback/suggestions welcome). (1/4). #WomenInSTEM #Leadership
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Grateful to be named an @ASMEdotorg Rising Star in Mechanical Engineering alongside many of my #newPI friends (including @CarlosMPortela @ProfGraceGu + many others I didnโt get pictures with)! Fun to present the first few papers from the lab - more to come in 2025 ๐ช๐ฝ @MITMechE
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Our review on โ#biofabrication of living actuatorsโ is out now in @AnnualReviews of Biomedical Eng! We discuss tissue-scale muscle-powered robots that walk, swim, pump, grip, & compute! Learn more about whatโs now & whatโs next in #biohybrid #robotics ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฆพ.
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Huge milestone for the lab - our first two PhD candidates! Congratulations to Angel Bu and Brandon Rios on passing their qualifying exams and starting an exciting new phase of graduate school!. @MITMechE ๐ช๐ฝ
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Summer 2020: mentoring high school students in a virtual STEM outreach program, led by @DrBlackBoots . Fall 2023: welcoming one of our mentees as a freshman engineer @MIT!. You truly truly truly LOVE to see it ๐ฅน. #WomenInSTEM #outreach
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Heart is full with joy, love, and support from all the amazing junior faculty at #BMES2022. @BrianAguado @AnaMaPorras @DrErikaMoore @DrBethanyA @DrBlackBoots @SantiCorreaPhD @cathaljkearney @TomasGF90 @Irene_dLz and many more. Weโre all in this #newPI life together ๐ช๐ฝ
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Just got invited to speak at the 11th annual Women Empowered in STEM conference at Illinoisโฆ canโt believe itโs been that long since I helped plan the very first one! Also by a perfect coincidence, Iโm wearing my most @UofIllinois dress ๐งก๐. @GradSWEillinois #WomenInSTEM
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Our recent paper on using targeted actuation of optogenetic #muscle grafts to accelerate functional recovery after trauma is featured on @MIT news! Exciting learnings leveraging 10 yrs of research on #optogenetic muscle. Read the paper on @Biomaterials_๐ช๐ฝ.
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Check out '35 challenges in materials science being tackled by PIs under 35(ish)' in @Matter_CP featuring science from @AnaMaPorras, @telomerase2, @BrianAguado, me, and many more awesome young profs! ..@CranfordMATTER #NewPI #AcademicTwitter #science
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Super fun conversation with Rania Khalaf (CIO @Inari_Ag) at the @SolveMIT plenary discussing the role that #biohybrid design and emerging #biotech can play in achieving a more sustainable future for all! ๐ ๐
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Surreal immigrant moment: so wonderful to attend an @MIT dinner hosting the Indian Ambassador to the United States, surrounded by amazing mentors & role models on our campus. A great reminder of the ways in which science innovation can be a force for positive global impact ๐บ๐ธ๐ฎ๐ณ.
An evening of candid conversations with @MITโs leadership & senior faculty on ways to deepen ๐บ๐ธ๐ฎ๐ณ educational, research & skill connect, particularly in STEM areas.
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I donโt always talk about biology-for-robotsโฆ sometimes I talk about robots-for-biology! ๐ค Had lots of fun at the MARSS conference in Delft ๐ณ๐ฑ brainstorming w/ amazing friends & robots-for-biology enthusiasts @SimoneSchuerle @MarianaMedinaS6 @OzkaleBerna @mssakar and more!
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Excited to share a new review on Magnets for Mechanobiology - teamed up with fellow ๐งฒ enthusiasts @DanielGMadrid11 @SimoneSchuerle @andytkp2017 to share how we + others manipulate cellular microenvironments with magnetic fields!.
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Spent the weekend celebrating the #IfThenSheCanExhibit at the @smithsonian - the largest collection of statues of women! Next time youโre in DC, say hi to StatueRitu at the National Air & Space Museum, & show your support for all the amazing #WomenInSTEM honored by @ifthenshecan!
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New paper out today in @AdvPortfolio : We pit Myokines vs. Mechanics to establish the separate mechanical & biochemical mechanisms by which muscle contraction programs motor neuron growth and maturation from the bottom up #myotwitter (1/n)
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One year anniversary of a great day ๐๐ฝ.
Tough times teach you life is a team sport. My parents, friends, & mentors supported me through a 2-year pandemic job hunt. They are the reason I get to be Prof. Ritu Raman @MIT ๐๐ฝ My lab @MITMechE will engineer the neuromuscular system to restore mobility & power robots ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฆพ
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