Dr. Elizabeth Hénaff is a computational biologist with an art practice. Her academic trajectory started with a Bachelors in Computer Science, followed by a Master’s in Plant Biology (both from UT Austin) and a PhD in Bioinformatics from the University of Barcelona.
At the center of her work is a fascination with the way living beings interact with their environment. This inquiry has produced a body of work that ranges from scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, to projects with landscape architects, to working as an artist in environments from SVA to the MIT Media Lab. She has made contributions to understanding how plants respond to the force of gravity, how genome structure changes in response to stress, and most recently has turned her attention to the ubiquitous and invisible microbial component of our environment. Some recent highlights include the design for the bioremediation of a local toxic Superfund site which won a design competition, had a gallery exhibit, and a scientific publication. Her work with the MIT Media Lab led to the development of a novel approach to urban microbiome sampling using honeybees, an exhibit at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale, and a curriculum for international workshops. Most recently, she has shown work at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in NYC and the Detroit Science Gallery. She has consistently made the tools - software, wetware, hardware - needed to answer her research questions.
She currently holds an Assistant Professor position in the Technology, Culture and Society department at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering in New York City.
Elizabeth’s Projects
Title | Type | Venue | Date | People | Topics | Projects | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Hénaff Lab Summer Tour | TalkConference PresentationPoster PresentationSymposium | 06/15/2025 → 06/27/2025 | Alma Rocha Phoebe Mankiewicz Diedre Brown Hao-Wei Shih Karolina Sulich Elizabeth Hénaff | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | |||
Living Interfaces Lab Showcases Research at 2025 Bioremediation Symposium | TalkPoster PresentationSymposium | Bioremediation Symposium 2025 | 06/24/2025 | Hao-Wei Shih Karolina Sulich Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | www.battelle.org |
LAMP-PCR biosensor top 8 finalist at Bio Design Challenge 2025 | TalkExhibit | Museum of Modern Art | 06/13/2025 | Karolina Sulich Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | |
Our lab participated in Tandon Excellence Exhibit 2025 ! | Exhibit | NYU Tanodn | 04/25/2025 | Elizabeth Hénaff Caroline Chou Karolina Sulich Seba Alabdullatif Hao-Wei Shih Yuwei Chen | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | ||
Pollution-eating microbes are thriving in infamous NYC canal - Popular Science | Press | Popular Science | 04/15/2025 | Elizabeth, Chandrima | |||
Environmental Microbiomes and Their Secrets with Dr. Elizabeth Henaff | Podcast | Grow Everything | 11/26/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | |||
Nocturnal Medicine: Sensuous Planet | Exhibit | Sensuous Planet | 09/27/2024 | Elizabeth | |||
Art Spiel Picks : Art and Technology NYC Exhibitions November 2024 | Press | ART SPIEL | 11/21/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | artspiel.org | ||
Artist Talk + Q&A: Concetta Abbate & Dr. Elizabeth Hénaff | Talk | BioBAT ArtSpace | 11/01/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Channel | ||
Art and science for collaboration across species | Talk | Booklyn Waterfront Research Center, BioBAT | 11/22/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Channel | ||
Water Stories | Press | MS-NBC | 10/16/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | www.nbcnewyork.com | ||
How do you ask consent of a microbe? | Critical Acclaim | Bocce Ball Films | 08/01/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | www.bocceballfilms.com | |
A deployable film method to enable replicable sampling of low-abundance environmental microbiomes. | Publication | Scientific Reports | 10/11/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff Phoebe Mankiewicz | Green Walls and the Indoor Microbiome | www.nature.com | |
GENE ZINE | Wignall Museum | Exhibit | Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art | 08/21/2023 → 11/18/2023 | Elizabeth | www.chaffey.edu | ||
Metagenomic Interrogation of Urban Superfund Site Reveals Antimicrobial Resistance Reservoir and Bioremediation Potential | Publication | Journal of Applied Microbiology | 04/15/2025 | Elizabeth | |||
Supervised Machine Learning Enables Geospatial Microbial Provenance | Publication | Genes | 10/18/2022 | Elizabeth Hénaff Chandrima Bhattacharya | |||
FloodNet: Low‐Cost Ultrasonic Sensors for Real‐Time Measurement of Hyperlocal, Street‐Level Floods in New York City | Publication | Water Resources Research | 05/01/2024 | Elizabeth | agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com | ||
Dr. Elizabeth Hénaff will be mentor for the Creative Science track at NEW INC! | Service | New Inc, New York | 09/21/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | www.newinc.org | ||
Bioremediation with Heavy-metal-binding Hydrogels and Microbial Heritage Sites | Conference Presentation | What’s Around Design? Conference, Speculative Biofutures Track, Algarve, Portugal | 10/08/2024 → 10/11/2024 | Caroline Chou Elizabeth Hénaff Hao-Wei Shih Karolina Sulich | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | ||
Distinguished Teacher Award | Award | NYU Tandon | 08/15/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | NYU Tandon Faculty Excellence Awards | engineering.nyu.edu | |
More-than-human Mapping: Microbial Heritage in Post-industrial Landscapes | Conference Presentation | Spatial Humanities Conference, Bamberg, Germany | 09/27/2024 → 09/27/2024 | Caroline Chou Elizabeth Hénaff | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | ||
Gowanus team wins first prize at Tandon Research Expo | PressOutreach | NYU Tandon Newsletter | 05/13/2024 | Hao-Wei Shih Karolina Sulich Caroline Chou Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | engineering.nyu.edu |
 | Conference PresentationNYU seminar | NYU Urban Research Day, New York, NY | 03/06/2024 | Diedre Brown Elizabeth Hénaff |
| www.nyu.edu | |
 | Conference Presentation | 52nd International Conference on Urban Affairs, New York, NY | 04/25/2024 | Diedre Brown Progga Nabiha Bhuiyan Harry Trethowan Tori Coleman Elizabeth Hénaff | Holobiont Interactions, Resilient Cities |
| urbanaffairsassociation.org |
DRIFT | Okayama Art Summit | Exhibit | Okayama Castle Moat | 2019-09-26 | Elizabeth Hénaff | okayamaartsummit.jp | ||
DISC: Gene Zine | Artistic Publication | Lulu Press, Inc | 2022-11-01 | Elizabeth Hénaff | discjournal.net | ||
CHANNEL | BioBAT Art Space | Exhibit | BioBAT Art Space | 06/08/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | |||
SUBCULTURE | Storefront for Art and Architecture | Exhibit | Storefront for Art and Architecture | 97 Kenmare Street, New York, NY | 09/19/2018 | Elizabeth Hénaff | storefrontnews.org | ||
Sponge Park: Gowanus Canal | Critical Acclaim | University of Chicago Press | 01/11/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | press.uchicago.edu | ||
Vernacular Biotechnologies | Publication | Cambridge University Press (Research Directions: Biotechnology Design , Volume 1 , 2023 , e5DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/btd.2022.5) | 2022-09-27 | Elizabeth Hénaff | www.cambridge.org | ||
Metabolite: Material as Physical History of a Relationship
| Book Chapter | Routledge | 2021-08-01 | Elizabeth Hénaff | www.routledge.com | ||
Dan Grushkin and Elizabeth Henaff at Fabrica | Talk | Fabrica, Italy | 2023-11-16 | Elizabeth Hénaff | |||
Behind the Paper: Holobiont Urbanism | Invited Article | Nature Microbiology | 2023-03-30 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Holobiont Interactions | Aerobiomes as seen by Honeybees | microbiologycommunity.nature.com |
“Growing Indoor Environmental Infrastructure: Designing for Microbial Diversity with Implications for Pollutant Metabolism and Human Health.” | Publication | Research Directions: Biotechnology Design, 2024, 1–38 | 04/21/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff Phoebe Mankiewicz | Holobiont Interactions | Green Walls and the Indoor Microbiome | doi.org |
Holobiont Urbanism: sampling urban beehives reveals cities’ metagenomes | Publication | Environmental Microbiome | 2023-03-30 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | environmentalmicrobiome.biomedcentral.com | |
Data through Design | ExhibitLLI | Prime Produce | 2023-03-10 | Ands Sanchez Tori Coleman Elizabeth Hénaff Sheila Atieno | datathroughdesign.com | ||
PRECIPITATE | Open Source Gallery | Exhibit | Open Source Gallery | 06/29/2023 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | open-source-gallery.org | |
Indoor Environmental Parameters: Considering Measures of Microbial Ecology in the Characterization of Indoor Air Quality | Conference Paper | Air infiltration and Ventilation Centre Conference | 2022-05-04 | Elizabeth Hénaff Phoebe Mankiewicz | www.aivc.org | ||
Developing design criteria for active green wall bioremediation performance: Growth media selection shapes plant physiology, water and air flow patterns. | Publication | Energy and Buildings 260, 111913 (2022) | 2022-04-01 | Elizabeth Hénaff Phoebe Mankiewicz | Holobiont Interactions | Green Walls and the Indoor Microbiome | doi.org |
Invisible Inhabitants | Invited Article | Journal of Design and Science, MIT Press | 2017-07-12 | Elizabeth Hénaff | jods.mitpress.mit.edu | ||
NYU Biomaterials class final presentations @ New Lab | TeachingExhibit | NYU IDM x New Lab | 2023-12-15 | Elizabeth Hénaff Sara Nejad | |||
What Biodesign Means to Me | Invited Article | BioDesigned Journal | 2020-07-01 | Elizabeth Hénaff | www.biodesigned.org | ||
Voices of Biotech Research | Invited Article | Nature Biotechnology | 2021-01-01 | Elizabeth Hénaff | www.nature.com | ||
Reciprocity in the Multispecies City | Conference Presentation | Civic Art Lab, NYC | 2023-10-28 | Elizabeth Hénaff Heather Parrish, Leonard Roussel, Seth Wenger | Holobiont Interactions | www.greenspacenyc.org | |
The Invisible Scrubbers at the Bottom of the Gowanus / Curbed | Press | New York | 2022-04-08 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | www.curbed.com |
Theater for Collaborative Survival | Detroit Science Gallery | Exhibit | Science Gallery Detroit | 2019-06-01 | Elizabeth Hénaff | |||
2024 Tandon Research Excellence Exhibit | AwardExhibitLLI | NYU Tandon School of Engineering | 04/26/2024 | Hao-Wei Shih Caroline Chou Karolina Sulich Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | engineering.nyu.edu |
The Urban Microbiome - Conversation with Elizabeth Hénaff and Núria Conde | Talk | CCCB Centre de Cultura Contemporanea de Barcelona | 2021-11-22 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | www.cccb.org | |
Holobiont Urbanism | Palazzo Mora | Exhibit | Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy | 05/01/2016 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Holobiont Interactions | artsandculture.google.com | |
HLAB website | PressInterview | NYU Humanities H-LAB | 2023-09 | Elizabeth Hénaff | hlabs.nyuhumanities.org | ||
GENE ZINE: Gowanus | NYC Tech Zine Fair | Exhibit | School for Poetic Computation | 11/01/2018 | Elizabeth Hénaff | techzinefair.org |
