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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
11/21/2025 | Karolina Sulich Elizabeth Hénaff | ||||||
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 | ||||
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 | |
TalkExhibit | Museum of Modern Art | 06/13/2025 | Karolina Sulich Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | ||
Exhibit | NYU Tandon | 04/25/2025 | Elizabeth Hénaff Caroline Chou Karolina Sulich Seba Alabdullatif Hao-Wei Shih Yuwei Chen | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | |||
Press | Popular Science | 04/15/2025 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbes and Memory | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | www.popsci.com | |
Podcast | Grow Everything | 11/26/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | ||||
Exhibit | Sensuous Planet | 09/27/2024 | Elizabeth | ||||
Press | ART SPIEL | 11/21/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | artspiel.org | |||
Talk | BioBAT ArtSpace | 11/01/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Channel | |||
Talk | Booklyn Waterfront Research Center, BioBAT | 11/22/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Channel | |||
Press | MS-NBC | 10/16/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | www.nbcnewyork.com | |||
Critical Acclaim | Bocce Ball Films | 08/01/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | www.bocceballfilms.com | ||
ServiceOutreach | Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, NY | 11/11/2023 | Progga Nabiha Bhuiyan Harry Trethowan Diedre Brown Elizabeth Hénaff | Urban Aerobiome Microclimates | www.fortgreenepark.org | ||
Publication | Scientific Reports | 10/11/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff Phoebe Mankiewicz | Green Walls and the Indoor Microbiome | www.nature.com | ||
Exhibit | Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art | 08/21/2023 → 11/18/2023 | Elizabeth | www.chaffey.edu | |||
Publication | Journal of Applied Microbiology | 04/15/2025 | Elizabeth | ||||
Publication | Genes | 10/18/2022 | Elizabeth Hénaff Chandrima Bhattacharya | ||||
Publication | Water Resources Research | 05/01/2024 | Elizabeth | agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com | |||
Service | New Inc, New York | 09/21/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | www.newinc.org | |||
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 | |||
Award | NYU Tandon | 08/15/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | NYU Tandon Faculty Excellence Awards | engineering.nyu.edu | ||
Conference Presentation | Spatial Humanities Conference, Bamberg, Germany | 09/27/2024 → 09/27/2024 | Caroline Chou Elizabeth Hénaff | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | |||
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 | |
Exhibit | Okayama Castle Moat | 2019-09-26 | Elizabeth Hénaff | okayamaartsummit.jp | |||
Artistic Publication | Lulu Press, Inc | 2022-11-01 | Elizabeth Hénaff | discjournal.net | |||
Exhibit | BioBAT Art Space | 06/08/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | ||||
Exhibit | Storefront for Art and Architecture | 97 Kenmare Street, New York, NY | 09/19/2018 | Elizabeth Hénaff | storefrontnews.org | |||
Critical Acclaim | University of Chicago Press | 01/11/2024 | Elizabeth Hénaff | press.uchicago.edu | |||
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 | |||
Book Chapter | Routledge | 2021-08-01 | Elizabeth Hénaff | www.routledge.com | |||
Talk | Fabrica, Italy | 2023-11-16 | Elizabeth Hénaff | ||||
Invited Article | Nature Microbiology | 2023-03-30 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Holobiont Interactions | Aerobiomes as seen by Honeybees | microbiologycommunity.nature.com | |
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 | |
Publication | Environmental Microbiome | 2023-03-30 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | environmentalmicrobiome.biomedcentral.com | ||
ExhibitLLI | Prime Produce | 2023-03-10 | Ands Sanchez Tori Coleman Elizabeth Hénaff Sheila Atieno | datathroughdesign.com | |||
Exhibit | Open Source Gallery | 06/29/2023 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | open-source-gallery.org | ||
Conference Paper | Air infiltration and Ventilation Centre Conference | 2022-05-04 | Elizabeth Hénaff Phoebe Mankiewicz | www.aivc.org | |||
Publication | Energy and Buildings 260, 111913 (2022) | 2022-04-01 | Elizabeth Hénaff Phoebe Mankiewicz | Holobiont Interactions | Green Walls and the Indoor Microbiome | doi.org | |
Invited Article | Journal of Design and Science, MIT Press | 2017-07-12 | Elizabeth Hénaff | jods.mitpress.mit.edu | |||
TeachingExhibit | NYU IDM x New Lab | 2023-12-15 | Elizabeth Hénaff Sara Nejad | ||||
Invited Article | BioDesigned Journal | 2020-07-01 | Elizabeth Hénaff | www.biodesigned.org | |||
Invited Article | Nature Biotechnology | 2021-01-01 | Elizabeth Hénaff | www.nature.com | |||
Conference Presentation | Civic Art Lab, NYC | 2023-10-28 | Elizabeth Hénaff Heather Parrish, Leonard Roussel, Seth Wenger | Holobiont Interactions | www.greenspacenyc.org | ||
Press | New York | 2022-04-08 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | Gowanus Canal Microbiome | www.curbed.com | |
Exhibit | Science Gallery Detroit | 2019-06-01 | Elizabeth Hénaff | ||||
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 | |
Talk | CCCB Centre de Cultura Contemporanea de Barcelona | 2021-11-22 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Microbiomes and the Anthropocene | www.cccb.org | ||
Exhibit | Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy | 05/01/2016 | Elizabeth Hénaff | Holobiont Interactions | artsandculture.google.com | ||
PressInterview | NYU Humanities H-LAB | 2023-09 | Elizabeth Hénaff | hlabs.nyuhumanities.org | |||
Exhibit | School for Poetic Computation | 11/01/2018 | Elizabeth Hénaff | techzinefair.org |
