Bioengineering Research in Mechanical Engineering

The Bioengineering area seeks to apply its knowledge and abilities to better understand the workings of biological systems that by their nature span a broad range of length scales, from molecules to organisms. In pursuit of those goals, we seek to apply engineering principles to advance our understanding of integrated biological or physiological systems and to develop new diagnostics, therapeutics, and devices to benefit human health and society.

The application of traditional and emerging engineering technologies to understanding and modifying biological systems is at the heart of our research in this area. Bioengineering research is a cross-disciplinary effort with collaboration of faculty within the department and with colleagues in other departments at MIT and leading medical institutions across the country. Our faculty work with colleagues at the Department of Biology, the Whitehead Institute, the Division of Biological Engineering, and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

During the past several decades, bioengineering research at MIT has evolved to embrace new directions enabled by advances in molecular and cell biology. In particular, a growing area has been the modeling, imaging, and measurement of subcellular and even single-molecule phenomena. The expansion of research capabilities to the nano-scale has further enabled us to study multi-scale processes, bridging from molecular to cellular to tissue levels.

Leading-edge research in the department covers a broad spectrum of activities, including tissue engineering; artificial organs and organ regeneration; human rehabilitation and assistive devices; instrumentation, including sensors and actuators; imaging; informatics; bio-fluid mechanics; biomolecular mechanics; and man-machine interaction.