Areas of Research
Distributed Diagnosis and Home Health Care (D2H2) develops the technology to deliver health care outside the traditional hospital and physician’s office. Advances in instrumentation and sensors (developed at UW and elsewhere), combined with new web-based technologies, enable testing and monitoring in remote locations. The small size, speed, low cost, and reliability of these new diagnostic systems will allow tests such as immunoassays, genotyping, and pathogen detection to be performed at home. Students can emphasize ultrasound for diagnosis and therapy, telemedicine, MEMS, microfluidics, diagnostic instrumentation, or clinical applications of electronic medicine and systems engineering.
Engineered Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering creates synthetic materials for devices used within the body, such as heart valves or intraoccular lenses. At UW, we engineer materials that not only minimize the body’s foreign host response but also direct appropriate healing in the patient. This thrust area also includes the field of tissue engineering, especially cardiac tissue. Students can investigate the control of inflammation, development of revascularization and biomineralization, surface immobilization and analysis strategies, and prosthetics for hard and soft tissues.
Molecular Bioengineering and Nanotechnology spans two broad activities: Molecular Biomechanics and Smart Drug Delivery. The first investigates the mechanical properties of molecular systems and develops mechanical systems based on engineered biomolecules. The second develops novel, molecularly-based methods of delivering therapeutic molecules to patients. The systems operate with feedback responses to body signals and with targeted transport of stable or temporarily stabilized pharmaceuticals around and through biological barriers.
Medical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy advances ultrasound and optical imaging technology. Within this systems-oriented program, students can develop image-guided surgery, therapeutic and diagnostic applications for HIFU (high intensity focused ultrasound), or image analysis, segmentation, and visualization for the next generation of powerful, low-cost ultrasound machines. This thrust area provides some of the technology essential to the systems of D2H2.
Computational and Integrative Bioengineering focuses on developing quantitative models to describe the function and interaction of biological systems. These models represent an essential step in making practical use of the data generated from the Human Genome Project. Computational bioengineers work with human and animal physiological systems, investigating the properties and responses of those systems under normal, pathological, and therapeutic conditions. Because computational tools are central to all areas of bioengineering, students can combine computational bioengineering with projects in other thrust areas, or can specialize in pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics or the computational analysis of molecular, cellular, or integrated physiological systems.