Duke BME Research
Duke BME faculty members are engaged in a wide range of efforts to improve human health through research–from creating the world's first real-time, three-dimensional ultrasound diagnostic system to developing the first engineered blood vessels.
The department's close proximity to the Duke University Medical Center has fostered a highly interdisciplinary approach to research, with engineers working closely with both biological scientists and physicians–collaborations enhanced by our innovative Duke-Coulter Translational Medicine Partnership and Duke MEDx programs. This breadth of expertise is reflected in all our research programs, as we work to translate fundamental advances across the molecular, cellular, and organ scales into new developments for improved diagnosis and treatment of disease.
See a list of recent notable research by our faculty, published in selected leading journals.
Major Research Programs
Both undergraduate and graduate students conduct research in these areas under the guidance of Duke BME faculty researchers, who include many winners of prestigious scientific awards and fellows of respected societies. In one of the clearest hallmarks of faculty excellence, sponsored research at Duke BME from both federal and non-federal sources has grown more than 60 percent over the past five years.
Bioelectric Engineering
Spanning a range of length scales from the ion-channel to the organ level, with a focus on development of realistic models of cardiac muscle
Biomaterials
Including the molecular design of soft materials, nanomaterials, immune-active materials and scaffolds for tissue engineering
Biomechanics and Mechanobiology
Focusing on mechanics at and across the molecular, cellular, tissue and organ levels
Biomedical and Health Data Sciences
Developing innovative data science, machine learning, and digital health modeling approaches to transform multi-scale biomedical data into actionable insights
Biomedical Imaging and Biophotonics
Advancing the physics and mathematical theory of imaging, image acquisition and image processing, hardware design and clinical applications
Biosensors and Bioinstrumentation
Utilizing recent advances in biochemistry, electronics, omics and physiology to develop novel diagnostic, therapeutic and prosthetic devices
Computational Modeling of Biological Systems
Using modeling, simulation, high-performance computing and data analysis to create testable hypotheses about mechanisms driving complex biological functions
Drug and Gene Delivery
Understanding and developing new strategies aimed at therapies for cancer, infectious and cardiovascular disease, muscle disease, and gastrointestinal disease
Immune Engineering
Designing novel vaccines and technologies for tissue engineering and treatment of wounds, chronic inflammation and cancer
Neural Engineering
Developing new tools and methods to enable fundamental research on the nervous system, as well as treatments for neurological disorders
Synthetic and Systems Biology
Including development of new strategies for regenerative medicine, treatment of genetic disease and techniques to establish robust gene circuit function
Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
Investigating technologies from biomaterial/cell constructs for repairing various tissues and organs, to stem cell therapies, to immune therapies
Clinical Application Areas
Mark L. Palmeri
Professor of the Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Ultrasonic imaging, specifically using acoustic radiation force to characterize the mechanical properties of tissue, and finite element analysis of soft tissue response to impulsive radiation force excitation. Other research interests include ultrasonic bioeffects and mechanical...