Jil Berenblum

Jil Berenblum is a design researcher and industrial designer weaving between living materials and design, practicing in a time of accelerating material extraction. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Interdisciplinary Design and Media at Northeastern University’s BioInteractive Design Lab, advised by Dr.Zolotovsky, where she explores fabrication and computational design methods for integrating biosensors into textiles.

She holds a Master of Science in Sustainable Design from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Industrial Design from Pratt Institute. Her research, “Living Threads,” integrates synthetic biology into textile systems for health and environmental applications. This work connects disciplines across synthetic biology, Bio-HCI, and engineering, translating biological experimentation into tangible wearable experiences.

Beyond her research, Jil has contributed to biomaterial workshops at Carnegie Mellon, Genspace, and Tangible Embedded and Embodied Interaction (TEI). She has worked as an industrial designer at Cartier and as a design strategist at the LAB at Rockwellgroup. Her work has been recognized with awards, including the George W. Anderson Jr. Award, and has been supported through publications and conference presentations at Acadia and Responsive Cities symposia. She brings together rigorous material innovation with design practice to imagine more sustainable and responsive forms of interaction and fabrication.