{"id":5296,"date":"2026-05-13T15:00:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/?post_type=profiles&#038;p=5296"},"modified":"2026-10-09T10:43:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T14:43:23","slug":"seanbiron-johnson-2","status":"publish","type":"profiles","link":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/profiles\/seanbiron-johnson-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Seanbiron Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Johnson-Seanbiron-e1791556908469.jpg\" alt=\"Johnson, Seanbiron\" class=\"wp-image-5604\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-container-content-69bc4bdf wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MIT Department: <\/strong><br>Mechanical Engineering<br><br><strong>Faculty Mentor<\/strong>: <br>Ritu Raman<br><br><strong>Research Supervisor: <\/strong><br>Brandon Rios<br><br><strong>Undergraduate Institution:<\/strong><br>University of California, Berkeley<strong><br><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Biography<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Seanbiron Johnson is a rising junior at UC Berkeley studying Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Global Poverty &amp; Practice. This is his second summer in MIT&#8217;s Summer Research Program (MSRP), working in Professor Ritu Raman&#8217;s lab. His current project functionalizes PDMS as a substrate to replace fibrin, improving optical clarity for the lab\u2019s cell imaging. In his first MSRP project, he built an optogenetic stimulator for 2D cantilever muscle tissue and developed a MATLAB based displacement tracking pipeline. At Berkeley, he also works with O&#8217;Connell&#8217;s lab. Seanbiron&#8217;s drive to pursue biomechanics stems from family members who live with physical disabilities, shaping his commitment to restoring function for people. That belief in STEM and social impact drives his work as founder of Defining Ghetto, a storytelling platform amplifying untraditional paths to higher education, and as a Student Observer representing students on the UC Regents Public Engagement Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><br><strong>Functionalized PDMS as a Tunable Substrate for Skeletal Muscle<br>Tissue Engineering<br><\/strong>Seanbiron Johnson<sup>1<\/sup>, Brandon Rios<sup>2<\/sup>, and Professor Ritu Raman<sup>2<\/sup><br><sup>1<\/sup>Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley<br><sup>2<\/sup>Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\"><br>Engineered skeletal muscle monolayers are commonly grown on fibrin, a protein gel valued for supporting cell attachment. However, fibrin is mechanically weak. Imaging it well requires removing the gel from its well plate and flipping it over, risking tissue damage. A substrate that is transparent and sturdy enough to withstand handling would greatly improve how engineered muscle is imaged and tracked over time. This project explores polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a transparent, durable silicone, as an alternative to fibrin. PDMS was tuned to approximate the stiffness of native muscle tissue. It was then coated with two surface treatments, polydopamine plus matrigel and benzophenone plus matrigel, to support C2C12 myoblast growth, with fibrin used as a comparison. PDMS is clear and stable enough to be imaged directly in place, without removal or flipping. Mechanical testing confirmed the target PDMS stiffness. Cell viability and imaging tests then compared the two coatings against fibrin to identify which best supports muscle cell growth and alignment. When successful, this approach would offer a sturdier, more easily imaged, tunable substrate for engineered muscle research. It could also support future studies on muscle development, aging, and disease within the Raman Lab.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5604,"template":"","profile_category":[25],"class_list":["post-5296","profiles","type-profiles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","profile_category-2026-interns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profiles"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6014,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5296\/revisions\/6014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"profile_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_category?post=5296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}