SEAM Lab

SEAM Lab logo

The Synthetic, Emergent and Animate Materials Lab, directed by Carson Bruns, designs materials that behave a little more like living things than materials usually do. We synthesize molecular and particulate building blocks, let them assemble themselves into larger structures, and engineer the properties that emerge when many small parts interact: sensing, memory, motion, toughness, self-repair.

What comes out ranges widely. Smart tattoos that measure ultraviolet and gamma radiation from inside the skin, and inks you can erase and redraw with light. Adhesives and water-rich rubbers cross-linked by nano-pulleys that slide rather than snap. Compostable membranes that harvest electricity where fresh water meets salt. Soft actuators that give books moving illustrations and fingertips artificial touch. Robots that share a bench with chemists.

We are a chemistry laboratory inside a design institute, which means our work gets judged by chemists, engineers, designers, and occasionally by dermatologists and tattoo artists. We think that is the right set of critics.

Formerly the Emergent Nanomaterials Laboratory. (Note: The video above was produced when the lab was known by its former name.)

SEAM Lab Projects

Cybernetic Human Enhancement
Magic Ink
Nano-Pulley Materials
Osmotic Power
Plastic Fertilizer
RoboChemistry
Smart Tattoos
Soft Interfaces

SEAM Lab News

SEAM Lab Director

SEAM Lab Associated Researchers

SEAM Lab Alumni

SEAM Lab Publications

Diane N. Jung, Caleb Escobedo, Noah Liska, Maitrey Gramopadhye, Daniel Szafir, Alessandro Roncone, and Carson J. Bruns. 2026. "". In: Companion Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI Companion '26). (Edinburgh, Scotland, March 16-19, 2026).

Diane Jung,Kailey Shara andCarson Bruns. 2025. “”. In: PLoS One 20(8). (August 12, 2025).

Jung DN, Burleson G,Bruns CJ. "." In:Proceedings of the ASME 2025 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Volume 4: 22nd International Conference on Design Education (DEC); 30th Design for Manufacturing and the Life Cycle Conference (DFMLC); 37th International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology (DTM). (Anaheim, CA, August 17–20, 2025).

Jesse L. Butterfield, Jennifer R. Quigley, Carson J. Bruns. 2024. "". In:Advanced Functional Materials, Volume 34, Issue 40.(October2024).

DN Jung, CJ Bruns.2024. "". 2024 International Design Engineering Technical Conference (IDETC-2024). (Washington, DC, August 25-28, 2024).

John-Baptist Kauzya,Brandon Hayes,Austin C. Hayes,Jamie F. Thompson,Charlotte Bellerjeau,Kent Evans,Jorge Osio-Norgaard,Gaurang Gavai,Karan Dikshit,Carson Bruns,Robert MacCurdy, Robert A. Street,Gregory L. Whiting. 2024. "". In:Acta Astronautica, Volume 219.(June 2024).

Purnendu, Jess Hartcher‑O’Brien, Vatsal Mehta, Nicholas Colonnese, Aakar Gupta,Carson Bruns, Priyanshu Agarwal. 2023. "". In:Proceedings of IEEE World Haptics Conference.(Delft, Netherlands, July 10–13, 2023).

Karan DikshitandCarson J. Bruns. 2023. "". In:Supramolecular Nanotechnology: Advanced Design of Self‐Assembled Functional Materials 2. (April 21, 2023).

Samuel C. Lamont, Kyle Weishaar,Carson J. Bruns, and Franck J. Vernerey. 2023. "". In:Physical Review E 107, no. 4. (April 1, 2023).

Karan Vivek Dikshit, Aseem Milind Visal, Femke Janssen, Alexander Larsen, andCarson J. Bruns. 2023. "". In:ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 15, no. 13.

Hyejin Kwon, Brian S. Newell,Carson J. Bruns. 2022. . In: Nanoscale. (Sept 7, 2022).

JL Butterfield, GP Penoncello,KV Dikshit,CJ Bruns. 2022. ". In:ACS Applied Nano Materials.

KV Dikshit,CJ Bruns. 2022. "".In: Front. Chem.

H Kwon,CJ Bruns.2022. .In: Nano Research2022,15.

Xin Zhou,Hyejin Kwon,Richard R. Thompson,Robert J. Herman,Frank R. Fronczek,Carson J. BrunsandSemin Lee. 2021. ".In: Chemical Communications 2021. (Oct. 25, 2021).

KV Dikshit,CJ Bruns. 2021. "". In: Soft Matter 2021, 17.

Purnendu,S Novack, E Acome, C Keplinger,M Alistar,MD Gross,C Bruns,D Leithinger.2021., InDesigning Interactive Systems Conference 2021 (DIS ’21),ACM, New York, NY, USA, 10 pages. (June 28-July 2,2021–Virtual Event).

Purnendu, Eric Acome, Christoph Keplinger, Mark D. Gross, Carson Bruns, Daniel Leithinger. 2021. Soft Electrohydraulic Actuators for Origami Inspired Shape-Changing Interfaces. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts (CHI '21 Extended Abstracts). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 6 pages. (Yokohama, Japan–May 8-13, 2021).

A Parameswar, KV Dikshit, S Movafaghi, CJ Bruns, AP Goodwin. ACS Appl. Mater. Interf. 2021, 13, 1486–1492. (December 28, 2020).

Butterfield JL, Keyser SP, Dikshit KV, Kwon H, Koster MI, Bruns CJ. 2020. "". In: ACS Nano. (October 27, 2020).

M Atreya, K Dikshit, G Marinick, J Nielson, C Bruns, GL Whiting. "". In: ACS Appl. Mater. Interf. (April 24, 2020).

Bruns, C. J. 2019. "".In: Symmetry.

Bruns, C. J.2019. "". In:TEDxMileHigh Blog.

CJ Bruns, JF Stoddart. 2016."The Nature of the Mechanical Bond: From Molecules to Machines. ISBN: 9781119044000.