Avinava Roy is a PhD Candidate at the University of Michigan's Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He grew up in the beautiful city of Kolkata, India and completed his undergraduate studies in metallic materials before switching to soft biomaterials when he joined the Loebel Lab in 2021. He is currently interested in building hydrogel-based micromechanical systems to capture the dynamic folding of tissues found in the human body, especially those that belong to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. During the workday, he can be found tinkering with his toys to maneuver curved tissue architectures or being wide-eyed at the microscope. Outside the lab, Avinava is a serial audiobook listener, an amateur keyboardist and squash player when he’s not being mad about football (soccer).