Creating Healthier Lives: It's the Washington Way
Bioengineering Education | Faculty | Research & Innovation | Trailblazers
Launching Careers
Our academic programs are consistently ranked among the best by US News & World Report. Students get direct experience working with faculty, conducting research that leads to new discoveries, treatments, and tools. Graduates pursue diverse careers and leadership roles in industry, academia, and medicine. Our partnership with UW’s highly ranked medical school and proximity to Seattle’s growing global health community help prepare our students to translate research into bedside technology.
Crossing Boundaries
Bioengineering naturally evolved from partnerships between engineering and medicine. Today, our faculty and students continually reach across traditional boundaries in education and research. The interdisciplinary scope of our research spans four overarching themes: regenerative medicine and biomaterials, molecular and cellular engineering, imaging and image-guided therapy, and technology to increase access to health care.
The Power of Invention
We are a recognized leader in using education and research to encourage biomedical invention. Our students study commercialization with faculty who have taken their research from academia to industry and they challenge other student to local and national contests of innovation, invention and business plan creation. Our faculty and alumni have launched numerous successful startup companies and regularly license technology to industry partners, fueling our economy and transforming lives.
Every day we invent the future of medicine. UW faculty and students bridge the traditional disciplines of medicine and engineering to drive health care forward for those in remote parts of the world and here at home. Students, scientists, engineers, and physicians come together in Bioengineering to develop innovative and cost-effective approaches to improve health care. Our interdisciplinary teams collaborate in a wide range of areas, from biomedical imaging to biomaterials, and from diagnostic tools to targeted drug delivery.
"Bioengineering trains you to speak the many different technical languages needed to work in multidisciplinary teams that tackle the medical challenges of a rapidly changing world. This is the best training for a new cadre of engineers."
Bioengineering Education
Degree Programs
- Bachelor of Science (BS) - prepares students for graduate school, medical school, and careers in industry
- Master of Science (MS) - prepares students for further study or careers in industry and research
- Combined Bachelor/Master of Science (BS/MS) - five year accelerated MS degree program
- Master of Pharmaceutical Bioengineering - part-time evening program that prepares working scientists and engineers for leadership roles in the development of drugs and drug delivery
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) - intensive research prepares students for advanced-level careers in industry and academia
Additional Programs
- Certificate programs in medical engineering and pharmaceutical bioengineering
- Program on Technology Commercialization
Read more about our degree programs here
Student Demographics
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Student Excellence
Undergraduate
- Program ranked 6th by US News & World Report for undergraduate programs in bioengineering
- 5 Goldwater Scholars and one Luce Scholar as of Spring 2011
- 5 Levinson Emerging Scholar awards
- Multiple awards from NASA Space Grant and the National Science Foundation
- Multiple awards in business plan competitions from UW Foster School of Business
- Fellowships from American Heart Association and Washington Research Foundation
- Over 100 Mary Gates Scholarships
Graduate
- Program ranked 5th by US News & World Report for doctoral
programs in bioengineering
- 25 current National Science Foundation Fellows
- 2 current American Heart Association Fellows
- 5 current other fellows (NIH, NDSEG)
Faculty
Composition
- 44 active core teaching and research faculty
- 46 adjunct faculty
- 46 affiliate faculty
- 55 postdoctoral fellows/trainees
Honors
- Five members of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE)
- One UW Presidential Entrepreneurial Faculty Fellow
- One Sloan Research Fellow
- One NAE Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize
- One Pierre Galleti Award from American Institute for Medical
and Biological Engineering
- Joint department of College of Engineering and highlyranked
School of Medicine
Research and Innovation
Our faculty and students conduct basic and applied research that cuts across traditional boundaries between engineering, physical sciences, and medicine. More information about our research themes may be found here
Research Translation
Our success in translating research discoveries to real world
applications is promoted through collaborative, multi-partner initiatives
such as:
- Wallace H. Coulter Research Partnership - Furthering collaboration
between engineers and clinicians and translating biomedical
engineering technologies from laboratory into medical practices
- Center for Intracellular Delivery of Biologics – developing new
approaches for delivering biological drugs
- Ultrasound Based Washington Molecular Imaging and Therapy
Center – advancing molecular imaging and therapeutic technologies
and clinical translations using ultrasound-based technology (joint
program with Radiology and Applied Physics Lab)
- Life Sciences Discovery Fund commercialization grants – supporting
targeted studies that move promising developments in life sciences
technology along the pathway to commercialization
- Program on Technology Commercialization – 4-course series teaches
graduate and undergraduate students from engineering, business
and medicine the fundamentals of taking technology from the
academic lab to marketed product
Market Impact
- 164 active patents, 28 current licenses, and 12 cases of copyrighted
software (2011)
- 543 reported inventions
- Over 11 existing startup companies resulting from faculty and
student research
- BIOE Affiliates Program – building sustainable, mutually beneficial
relationships with individuals, nonprofits, and companies in Seattle,
nationally and around the world
Finances
Trailblazers
Many notable figures in industry and research have connections to the Department of Bioengineering. Here are just a few.
Wayne Quinton (BS '58) is an innovator whose contributions to the world of medicine have been numerous. He started Quinton Instruments in 1953, building the first treadmills designed specifically for cardiac testing, and in 1960 helped to develop the hemodialysis shunt, which made giving dialysis treatments to artificial kidney patients easier and safer. Quinton was the UW 2009 Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus, the "alumnus worthy of the highest praise." He is an affiliate professor in the department of Bioengineering.
Wayne R. Gombotz (PhD '88) is a leader in the pharmaceutical industry with over 20 years in executive management. Currently vice president of pharmaceutical operations at Omeros, Gombotz serves on advisory boards for the UW's Microscale Life Science Center and the Washington Center for Advanced Materials Technology. He is co-author of Current Trends in Monoclonal Antibody Development and Manufacturing.
Jay Rubinstein M.D. (PhD '88) is a model example of a bioengineer who straddles the line between doctor and researcher. He is the director of the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center and professor in the department of Bioengineering and Otolaryngology. His research focuses on current flow in the ear and he is also known as a superb surgeon. He co-developed a device for patients suffering from balance disorders due to Meniere's disease. He is the first doctoral student to graduate from UW Bioengineering.
Christopher McInnes (PhD '92) was behind the research that provided the fundamental science underlying the technology associated with the Sonicare power toothbrush. His research included both clinical trials and laboratory studies. He worked for Optiva Corp., makers of Sonicare, for 12 years and during his tenure saw the company grow from six employees to 600. 
David A. Basiji (PhD '97) honed his entrepreneurial skills as a UW student. He co-founded Amnis Corporation with technology developed in UW Bioengineering. He is co-inventor of the ImageStream system, a breakthrough technology for high speed imaging and analysis of cells in flow. While at UW, he developed an ultra-sensitive DNA and protein analysis platform for the Human Genome Project, a technology that was later commercially licensed to Oxford GlycoSciences. Basiji currently holds 32 U.S. Patents.
Joan Greve (BS '97) is a preclinical imaging expert with significant experience in clinical translation. Greve leads Genentech, Inc.'s MRI Group multi-modality imaging lab. She was a core team member for Genentech's Alzheimer's disease program, developing the strategy for Phase I and II of the Investigational New Drug filing with the FDA and serving on the Industrial Scientific Advisory Board for the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. A National Science Foundation fellow, she has written 21 peer-reviewed publications and two book chapters.
Arthur Chan (PhD '03) is the first person at UW Bioengineering to complete a doctorate on focused ultrasound ablation. His research resulted in two patents for an image-guided therapy device and received awards from AIUM and ASRM. Chan is currently a clinical affairs manager at Endo Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Endo, Chan led clinical marketing and education for InSightec, a medical device start-up. He is the recipient of a Washington Research Foundation Gates Fellowship to pursue technology entrepreneurship.
