#careersinstem

MBARI's Bioinspiration Lab is finding inspiration for new technology in deep-sea animals 🤖⁠

Scientists have explored just a fraction of the deep sea. We still have a lot of questions about the animals that call these midnight waters their home. MBARI’s cutting-edge technology gives researchers a front row seat to the astonishing diversity of life in the deep sea. Our Bioinspiration Lab, led by bioengineer Kakani Katija, is developing groundbreaking tools to view deep-sea animals in their natural environment. 

Bringing the laboratory into the ocean gives Kakani and her team a close-up look at delicate jellies and intricate corals. The team's innovative imaging tools reveal how deep-sea animals move, feed, and interact with each other. We're learning more about the important role of marine life in ocean health and climate. 

By observing the creative adaptations that animals have for surviving in a cold, dark, and watery world, Kakani and her team also hope to help find novel solutions to some of the world’s biggest engineering challenges.

Nature has found creative solutions to engineering problems. Deep-sea animals may inspire new technology for energy generation, transportation, and materials science. Kakani and her team believe bioinspired design offers a world of new possibilities for technology. 

To mark International Women in Engineering Day, we’re celebrating the achievements of MBARI engineer Alana Sherman. #WomenInEngineeringDay

With an undergraduate degree in mathematics and a Ph.D. in bioengineering, the Chicago native is always up for a challenge. Interested in developing tools to solve complex challenges, she came to MBARI to tackle the problem of ocean access. Today, she leads MBARI’s electrical engineering group, where she develops innovative technologies and underwater vehicles that are transforming how we access and study the ocean. She manages the team of electrical engineers as they work together with scientists to build and deploy cutting-edge ocean technology. (Image: Monterey Bay Aquarium)

Alana works with various teams to enable their study of the ocean—from atoms to ecosystems. In addition to designing, building, and testing new instruments for marine science, she goes out to sea to test, deploy, and service MBARI’s research equipment. She was a pivotal member of the team that developed the Benthic Rover II. About the size of a small car, this autonomous rover travels across the muddy seafloor taking photos and measuring how much oxygen bottom-dwelling animals and microbes are using over time. Information gathered by this rover has helped scientists understand how carbon cycles from the surface to the seafloor—data fundamental to understanding the impacts of climate change on the ocean. Alana, the mother of two young boys, often jokes that the rover was her first child.