Research
A unique aspect of the research conducted by UW Bioengineering is our department's ties with industry, and the resulting technology transfers and corporate research partnerships. This relationship between bioengineering and the private sector points to the exciting nature of the department's research, demonstrating that our field is very much at the cutting edge of the nation's need for new knowledge creation and competitive technology development.
Research Areas
- Bioinstrumentation
Focus: microfluidic devices & systems, chemical detection systems for low-cost instrumentation. surface analytical tools & methods. hardware & software for imaging, research tool development.
UW Partners: Radiology, Applied Physics Laboratory/Center for Industrial & Medical Ultrasound (APL/CIMU), Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Global Health.
External Partners: PATH, APL, Industry.
- Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering
Focus: Tissue engineering & regenerative therapy, growing replacement tissue & whole organs, medical biomaterials & biointerface, microbial adhesion & biofilms.
UW Partners: Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM), Genome Sciences, Mcrobiology, Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering.
External Partners: Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC).
- Global Health, Distributed Diagnosis & Home Healthcare (D2H2)
Focus: Inexpensive point-of-care diagnostic systems, therapeutics for global health, enhanced healthcare data acquisition & delivery systems.
UW Partners: Global Health, Institute for Health Matrics & Evaluation (IHME), Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Laboratory Medicine, clinical departments.
External Partners: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute (SBRI), Industry.
- Imaging & Image-Guided Therapy
Focus: high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), image processing technologies, integrating imagiing with therapeutic procedures.
UW Partners: Radiology, Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics Laboratory/Center for Industrial & Medical Ultrasound (APL/CIMU).
External Partners: Local ultrasound industry, global imaging industry.
- Integrative Physiology, Systems Biology & Synthetic Biology
Focus: Integrative physiology & the physiome, pharmacokinetics & pharmacodynamics, systems biology, synthetic biology.
UW Partners: Electrical Engineering, Pharmacy, Pharmaceutics, Applied Math.
External Partners: Pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
- Molecular Bioengineering
Focus: Controlled release of therapeputic agents, targeted delivery of therapeutic agents & nucleic acids, better protein-binding molecules for diagnostics & therapeutics, nanoparticulate systems, molecular mechanics & protein folding.
UW Partners: Molecular Engineering, BMSD, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biostructure, Chemical Engineering, MSE, Electrical Engineering, Global Health.
External Partners: PATH, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute (SBRI), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC).
- Neural Engineering, Rehabilitation & Augmentation
Focus: New devices for neural study & manipulation, new computational architectures based on neural algorithms, better haptic and human-computer-machine interfaces, systems for rehabiliation & augmentation, better prosthetics & robots.
UW Partners: Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Biology, Pathobiology, Neurology, Virginia Merril Bloedel Hearing Research Center, Anesthesiology, Rehabilitation Medicine, Mechanical Engineering.
External Partners: Veteran's Administration.
- Understanding Nature through Engineering
Focus: Biomechanics, muscle physiology, mechanisms of biological motion, water structure & hydrogels, oceanic carbon & hydrogels.
UW Partners: Biology, Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM), Microbiology, Pathobiology, Radiology, Friday Harbor Marine Biology Laboratory.
Multi-Disciplinary Research Programs
- National Simulation Resource (NIH)
- Resource Facility for Population Kinetics (NIH)
- National ESCA and Surface Analysis Center for Biomedical Problems (NIH)
- BRP for Tissue Engineering of Myocardial Patches (NIH)
- Center for Medical and Industrial Ultrasound (CIMU)
- Biosensors and Microfabrication
- Molecular Bioengineering
- Image Computing Systems Laboratory
- W. H. Coulter Foundation Translational Research Partner
- NSR Physiome Project
- Heart and Muscle Mechanics
