While helping patients is the ultimate goal of biomedical engineering, faculty in our department also study the why and how of pathogenesis—the cause in addition to the symptom associated with different diseases. We work to understand the fundamental biological processes that go awry through a strong focus on multiscale biophysics: from molecules to tissues. Labs in our department use advanced microscopies, molecular and computational modeling, and macroscopic mechano-scopes to study how different forces affect biochemistry and biology. Researchers study fundamental cell transport that moves materials in and out of cells, explore how biomaterials self-adapt to control cell function, design molecules to inhibit critical enzymes and pathways in cancer, and relate tissue mechanics with function in heart and lung tissues. This fundamental science perfectly complements the applied research in the Department of Biomedical Engineering with many labs operating at the interface of fundamental and applied topics by linking cutting-edge basic science with disease.
