Projects
A portfolio.
Twenty years of work, from the cell-culture lab to permanent museum exhibitions to current nursing-research collaborations. Most of these projects were credited under Ryan Romie Littrell before 2023. Recent work is credited under Ryan Romie Kind or Romie Kind. Each entry links to a detail page.
Featured
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HEAL Institute pavilion
Permanent pavilion at Dubai's Museum of the Future exploring near-future preventive medicine, longevity, and personalized care. Awarded Blooloop's 2024 Innovation Award.
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Body Metrics
$3.6M permanent exhibition on wearable biometrics, biofeedback, and mindfulness. Visitors used real-time physiologic data to explore attention, stress, and emotional state.
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BioDesign Studio
$5M permanent exhibition on synthetic biology, with a working biological design lab on the museum floor, tangible-tabletop microbe simulators, live cell-culture stations, and visitor-runnable design tools.
- 2025–present Clinical research
Connect to Meds
Active nursing-research collaboration on improving medication access among marginally-housed residents of San Francisco's 6th Street corridor. Manuscript in progress.
All projects
- 2013–2015 Biodesign + synthetic biology
DIY Genetics Exhibition
Multi-year exhibition initiative at The Tech Interactive on synthetic biology and genetic engineering for the public. Backed cumulatively by $4.5M in foundation grants to The Tech.
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BioTinkering Lab
An on-floor biology lab at The Tech Interactive that earned the 2019 Leading Edge Award for Visitor Experience for the institution. I served as Project Director on the Tech's Health and Biotech exhibitions team.
- 2023 Public-engagement research
Immersion to Action
Cross-disciplinary research program studying how immersive science programming changes audience behavior after they leave the room. $220K Gebert Rüf Scientainment Grant.
- 2013 Health-experience design
Human Data Exhibition
Early Tech Interactive program on biometric data and self-quantification, supported by $500K from Kaiser Permanente.
- 2017–2018 Public-engagement research
Artist-Scientist Festival Residency
NSF-funded residency program pairing artists with scientists to produce festival-scale public-engagement work. Co-Director with Guerilla Science / Pratt Institute.
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iGEM Foundation, Community Labs Track
Currently Chair of the Community Labs Track at the iGEM Foundation, the international body governing the largest synthetic-biology student competition.
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LA Biohackers
Co-founded a non-institutional community group with the goal of an open community biolab in Los Angeles. Active 2010–2014, alongside fellowship and lectureship at the UCLA Art|Sci Center.
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BacPack: tangibles for biology learning
Two ACM-published research papers on the role of tangible interaction in a museum exhibit for synthetic biology. Built into the BioDesign Studio installation at The Tech Interactive.
- 2016 Public-engagement research
SynFlo: tangible synthetic-biology exhibit
ACM TEI '16 paper and Tech Interactive installation exploring tangible interaction for synthetic-biology learning.
- 2008–2010 Bench research
Modular microfluidic platform for biology education
Master's thesis project at UCLA Bioengineering. Engineered a biomimetic culture platform for bone-tissue remodeling, with applications to osteoporosis-treatment development and broader biomedical-engineering education.
- 2004–2006 Bench research
Bioengineered Cornea + Neural Matrix CCD
R&D supervisor at Cellular Bioengineering, Inc. (Hawaii) on the Biopolymer Transplantable Cornea and the award-winning Neural Matrix CCD for monitoring neuronal networks. Earliest professional research role.