Angel Bu

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About

Angel Bu is pioneering the frontier of biohybrid robotics by engineering living skeletal muscle into functional, controllable actuators. Her research lies at the intersection of tissue engineering, soft robotics, and mechanobiology, with a core focus on programming anisotropy and mechanical function in engineered muscle tissues. In her highly cited 2023 work, Bu introduced actuating extracellular matrices that mechanically program anisotropy in lab-grown muscle, enabling unprecedented control over tissue architecture and contractile function—a foundational contribution that has already garnered 45 citations. She further advanced the field by demonstrating the first meter-scale homeostatic biohybrid robots powered by soft biological actuators, achieving a remarkable leap in scale and viability. Most recently, Bu’s development of biohybrid tendons dramatically improved the power-to-weight ratio and modularity of muscle-powered robots, overcoming a critical bottleneck in translating these systems from benchtop to real-world applications. Her work bridges the gap between biological tissue engineering and functional robotics, offering a transformative path toward machines that grow, heal, and adapt like living organisms—a vision that positions her as a leading voice in next-generation biohybrid systems.