Growing up in Colombia, Diana Grass had a simple response whenever someone told her something was impossible: “I’ll figure it out.” Today, as a PhD candidate in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST), she develops soft bioelectronic devices to study the physiological signals through which the brain and body communicate. Grass is driven by curiosity about how complex systems work.
Her unconventional academic journey spans continents and disciplines. Before becoming a neuroscientist and engineer, she studied linguistics and education to understand how language evolves, preserves knowledge, and shapes human communication. Reflecting on her past, she notes, “I wasn’t just studying language, I was learning how complex systems communicate.”
Moving to the U.S. as a medical interpreter sparked her scientific interests. Translating conversations between physicians and patients with neurological disorders showed her how a single organ could influence communication and identity. Despite advances in medical imaging and diagnostics, clinicians still rely on isolated snapshots of biological processes. Grass explains, “The body is communicating all the time, yet we lack tools to understand its language.”
Determined to understand the brain better, she returned to school to study neuroscience with a minor in pre-medicine. At Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, she investigated neuroimmune communication, realizing the nervous system's interplay with the immune system and peripheral organs. This shifted her focus from the brain to understanding how the nervous system coordinates physiology through continuous communication.
Currently, Grass works in the Bioelectronics Group, developing soft bioelectronic devices that integrate seamlessly with soft peripheral tissues. These devices continuously monitor multiple physiological signals, enabling electrical recording and stimulation of neural circuits. This technology offers new insights into how neural communication coordinates physiology, potentially leading to earlier diagnoses and personalized therapies.
Her work has gained deeper significance since becoming a mother. Grass hopes to develop technologies that help detect diseases earlier and personalize treatments, shaping the future of medicine. Her research has required her to delve into materials science, systems physiology, device fabrication, and surgery, emphasizing the need for an interdisciplinary approach. “The scientific question was bigger than any one discipline,” she states. HST taught her to start with biology, letting medicine, engineering, and science become complementary.
Beyond the lab, Grass co-founded the Graduate First-Generation Low-Income Student Group to support over 300 graduate students from more than 60 countries, connecting them with resources and leaders. She believes every culture has its own language, as does each scientific discipline. Today, her goal is to help medicine understand the principles governing communication across the human body in health and disease.
Blogger's Review: Diana Grass's research highlights the power of interdisciplinary collaboration and underscores the importance of understanding complex systems. Her work not only innovates technology but also pushes medicine toward a more human-centered approach, showcasing the fusion of science and the humanities.