Research Areas
Biomedical engineering is very broad, encompassing all aspects of medicine with many fields of engineering.
Research here at the University of Delaware is well established. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of Biomedical Engineering, faculty at the university that are affiliated with this field are currently housed in the College of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences and will likely expand to reside in other colleges.
Includes engineering new materials, devices, and approaches to transform the study, detection, and treatment of cancer
- Fundamental and translational research that seeks to
- increase knowledge of the molecular mechanisms that drive cancer tumor progression and metastasis
- exploit these mechanisms to create improved diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
- Engineering approaches and core technologies include biomaterials development, nanotechnology, imaging, and systems biology
- Science and engineering collaborators in Engineering (MSE, CBE), Arts and Sciences (Biology, Chemistry) and Health Sciences (Medical Laboratory Sciences)
- Clinical collaborators at Helen F Graham Cancer Center and Research Institute, Nemours/AI DuPont Hospital for Children, Thomas Jefferson University, Wistar Cancer Institute, and Thomas Jefferson University
Includes determining underlying mechanisms of human disease using computational models of molecular, cellular, and higher-level systems
- Fundamental and translational research on the influence of dynamics, stochasticity, and spatial heterogeneity on the etiology and progression of human diseases.
- Molecular-level stochasiticity and its influence on cell-fate decisions
- Molecular mechanisms in lens tissue development and cataract formation
- Heterogeneous distribution of virus, target cells, and antivirals in treated HIV
- Information-optimal constrained clinical experiment design
- Statistical shape modeling to visualize and quantify complex shape changes observed in cartilage and bone diseases
- Engineering approaches and core technologies include nonlinear modeling and analysis, advanced statistical data analysis, moment-matching stochastic analysis, information-optimal experiment design, statistical shape modeling.
- Science and engineering collaborators in Engineering (CEE, CBE, CIS), Arts and Sciences (Biology and Math)
- Clinical collaborators at Ragon Institute, University of California San Francisco, University of Pennsylvania, IRSI-Caixa (Barcelona), VCCI (Sydney), University of New South Wales, and Queens College
Includes the study of the normal growth and aging, function, injury, degeneration, constitutive repair, regeneration, rehabilitation, and augmentation of musculoskeletal and neural tissues and systems
- Fundamental and translational research in:
- Etiology of injury and degeneration and the mechanisms of healing
- Disease diagnosis, prevention, and therapy, including, fracture healing, skeletal dysplasia, cartilage repair and regeneration, tendon repair
- Physiology, developmental biology, multi-scale biomechanics, and constitutive mechanics of musculoskeletal and neural tissues
- In vivo biomechanical study of structure and function of tissues and organs in states of health, disease/age/injury, and during therapeutic intervention
- Neuromechanics of human movement and motor control in healthy and pathological populations
- Technologies for movement assistance and rehabilitation
- Engineering approaches and core technologies include multi-scale biomechanical modeling and simulation, biorobotics, EMG, EEG, microCT and magnetic resonance imaging, cell and molecular biology, cytomechanics, animal and cellular model of disease.
- Science and engineering collaborators in Engineering (MSE, ME), Health Sciences (Behavioral Health and Nutrition, Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, Physical Therapy), and Arts & Sciences (Biology, Math, Psychological and Brain Sciences).
- Clinical collaborators at Physical Therapy at the University of Delaware, Nemours/AI DuPont Hospital for Children, Thomas Jefferson University, Christiana Hospital, the University of Pennsylvania, Flinders University Australia.
Includes harnessing developmental biology, systems biology, and mechanobiology to develop cellular models, organs, and systems to treat human diseases.
- Fundamental and translational research in mechanisms of morphogenesis, growth and proliferation, adhesion, migration, and micro environmental signal transduction
- Engineering approaches and core technologies include microfluidics, biomaterials, nanofabrication, cell and molecular biology, imaging, high-performance computing
- Science and engineering collaborators in Engineering (MSE, CBE, ME) and Arts and Sciences (Biology, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Math)
- Clinical collaborators at Nemours/AI DuPont Hospital for Children, and at Thomas Jefferson University, and Christiana Hospital