Applying strain is an effective way to tune the properties of a material. However, when it comes to two-dimensional materials, so far it has been possible to strain only devices with very simple geometries and to measure them only by optical means. Now, writing in the Journal of Applied Physics, Zhaoyu Liu and colleagues report a way to apply a continuously tuned uniaxial strain to devices based on 2D material heterostructures of any complexity while measuring simultaneously their electrical and optical properties. As a proof of concept, the researchers used this technique to measure electrical transport in a twisted bilayer graphene sample, showing that the application of strain induces large resistivity changes. This method could be expanded to be compatible with characterization techniques beyond transport and optical measurements, opening up new avenues for the investigation of 2D materials.