Advith's Calendar

A “Soft Approach” for Bioelectronics

Abstract: Electronics that seamlessly integrate with the human body hold tremendous potential for medical diagnostics and therapeutics. However, achieving such integration remains challenging due to the fundamental mechanical mismatch between conventional electronics and biological tissues. Traditional electronic systems are rigid and planar, whereas the human body is soft, deformable, and curvilinear, composed of dynamic biological materials, organs, and tissues. 

This presentation will highlight our “soft approach” to overcome these challenges through the development of soft bioelectronics, including flexible, stretchable, and rubbery electronic systems. By leveraging ultrathin geometries and open-mesh architectures, traditionally rigid electronic materials can be engineered to achieve exceptional mechanical compliance and stretchability, enabling intimate and conformal integration with skin, organs, and tissues. In parallel, rubbery electronics adopt a materials-centered approach, utilizing intrinsically elastic rubbery semiconductors and conductors to achieve tissue-like mechanical properties. This paradigm shift toward mechanically compliant electronics enables bioelectronic interfaces with enhanced biocompatibility, stability, and functionality for next-generation diagnostic and therapeutic applications. These advances demonstrate how a soft approach fundamentally reshapes bioelectronics, enabling unprecedented diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities in healthcare and medicine.

Biography: Dr. Cunjiang Yu is the Founder Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with affiliated appointments in Departments of Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Science and Engineering, and Bioengineering. His research focuses on the fundamentals and translational applications of soft and bio electronics, and has resulted in over 130 journal publications, including more than 40 in the Nature and Science family of journals. Dr. Yu’s work has been recognized with several distinctions, including the IEEE Nanotechnology Council Distinguished Lecturer Award; Young Investigator Awards from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Society of Engineering Science (SES), the American Vacuum Society (AVS), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR); the NSF CAREER Award; the NIH Trailblazer Award; and MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 China. He is a Fellow of ASME.