diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index b3f9cbf..36c44a2 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ Authors@R: c(
     person("Adam", "Lyon", role = "aut"),
     person("Yalei", "Du", role = "aut")
     )
+Suggests: R.matlab
 Maintainer: Yihui Xie <xie@yihui.name>
 License: GPL
 URL: https://github.com/yihui/runr
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index ee1af53..8ab5d1d 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@ S3method(print,runr_results)
 export(proc_bash)
 export(proc_julia)
 export(proc_python)
+export(proc_matlab)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/R/matlab.R b/R/matlab.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..57218f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/matlab.R
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+#' Run a matlab process
+#'
+#' This function returns a list of functions to start/run/stop a matlab process.
+#' The code is sent to matlab via a socket connection, and the results are
+#' written back in another socket connection.
+#' @param port A TCP port number
+#' @return A list of functions \code{start()}, \code{exec()}, \code{running()}
+#'   (check if the process has been running), and \code{stop()}.
+#' @export
+#' @examples \dontrun{
+#' mat = proc_matlab()
+#' mat$start()
+#' mat$exec('1+1')
+#' mat$exec('x = 1 + 1; x = x + x; x;') # return nothing
+#' mat$exec('x = 1 + 1\n x = x + x\n x') # return nothing
+#' mat$exec('5:9') # [     5     6     7     8     9]
+#' mat$exec('x = 1; while x < 10\n disp(x);\n x = x + 1;\n end') #Prints numbers 1 to 9
+#' mat$running() # should be TRUE
+#' mat$stop()
+#' }
+
+proc_matlab <- function(port = 6011){
+  matlab <- NULL
+  exec_code = function(...){
+    if (is.null(matlab)) stop('the process has not been started yet')
+    code = as.character(c(...))
+    result = sapply(code, function(x) R.matlab::evaluate(matlab, x, capture=TRUE))
+    return(do.call(paste, c(as.list(result), sep = "\n")))
+  }
+
+  list(
+    start = function() {
+      if (!is.null(matlab)) {
+        warning('the program has been started')
+        return(invisible())
+      }
+      R.matlab::Matlab$startServer(port=port)
+      matlab <<- R.matlab::Matlab(port=port)
+      isOpen = open(matlab, trials=30, interval = 0, timeout = 1)
+      if(!isOpen)
+      {
+        stop("Unable to connect to matlab server")
+      }
+      invisible()
+    },
+
+    exec = exec_code,
+
+    running = function() !is.null(matlab),
+
+    stop = function() {
+      close(matlab)
+      matlab <<- NULL
+      invisible()
+    }
+  )
+}
+
+