The Shapiro group develops molecular technologies for noninvasive imaging and control of cellular function, and uses these technologies to study basic biology and create cellular diagnostics and therapeutics.

Many important biological processes occur deep inside living organisms. Their study requires technologies to image and manipulate cellular and molecular function non-invasively. To develop such technologies, we pursue fundamental advances at the interface of molecular and cellular engineering with various forms of energy: acoustic, magnetic, mechanical, thermal and chemical. Our work takes advantage of naturally evolved biological structures with unique physical properties, which we use as starting points for engineering.

Our key biophysical methods include ultrasound and magnetic resonance , and our primary biological interests are in neuroscience, cancer, microbiology and immunology.