Biomaterials

Duke BME is home to a diverse and longstanding research community focusing on the area of biomaterials, the discipline of studying and designing non-living materials and devices that interface with physiological systems.

Ongoing interests include the molecular design of soft materials, nanomaterials, immune-active materials, scaffolds for tissue engineering, and basic investigations into the complex mechanisms by which materials engage biology.

Research in the broad field of Biomaterials has led to the development of an incredible range of implantable biomedical devices over the past several decades, and it continues to be central to the introduction of new medical therapies ranging from engineered tissues to delivery vehicles for genes and drugs, to immune therapies.

The biomaterials research community at Duke is supported and enhanced by numerous centers and programs, including the Research Triangle NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (RT-MRSEC) and the Center for Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering (CBTE).

Primary Faculty

Ashutosh Chilkoti

Alan L. Kaganov Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Focused on biomolecular materials and biointerface science and emphasizes the development of applications that span the range from bioseparations, biosensors, biomaterials, and targeted drug delivery.

Joel Collier

Theodore Kennedy Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: The design of biomaterials for a range of biomedical applications, with a focus on understanding and controlling adaptive immune responses. Most materials investigated are created from molecular assemblies- proteins, peptides or bioconjugates that self-organize into useful…

Sharon Gerecht

Paul M. Gross Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: stem cells, biomaterials, hypoxia, blood vessels, physics of cancer, regenerative medicine

Charles Gersbach

John W. Strohbehn Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Gene therapy, genomics and epigenomics, biomolecular and cellular engineering, regenerative medicine, and synthetic biology.

Brenton D. Hoffman

James L. and Elizabeth M. Vincent Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Focused on understanding, on a molecular level, how mechanical and chemical cues from the environment are detected, integrated, and manipulated by cells to dictate physiological and patho-physiological responses important in vascular biology.

David F. Katz

Nello L. Teer, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, in the Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. School of Engineering

Research Interests: Methods for prophylaxis against STD's, emphasizing topical microbicides and contraception; biofluid mechanics; rheology and transport phenomena; biophysical aspects of mammalian sperm motility, sperm transport, and fertilization; and biomechanical functioning of the vitreous of…

Samira Musah

Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), disease mechanisms, regenerative medicine, molecular and cellular basis of human kidney development and disease, organ engineering, patient-specific disease models, biomarkers, therapeutic discovery, tissue and organ transplantation,…

Daniel Reker

Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Integration of active machine learning, biomedical data science, and biochemical experiments for the analysis and design of personalized therapeutic opportunities.

Michael Rubinstein

Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Research Interests: Polymer theory and computer simulations

Tatiana Segura

Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: The design of biomaterials to promote endogenous repair and reducing inflammation through the design of the geometry of the material, and delivering genes, proteins and drugs.

Shyni Varghese

Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science and Orthopaedics

Research Interests: Musculoskeletal tissue repair, disease biophysics and organ-on-a-chip technology

Tuan Vo-Dinh

R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Biophotonics, laser-excited luminescence spectroscopy, room temperature phosphorimetry, synchronous luminescence spectroscopy, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, field environmental instrumentation, fiberoptics sensors, nanosensors, biosensors and biochips for the protection…

Lingchong You

Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Quantitative biology, synthetic biology, machine learning, antibiotic resistance, microbiome

Secondary Faculty

Gaurav Arya

Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Research Interests: Molecular modeling, molecular simulations, statistical mechanics, coarse-graining, machine learning, polymer and colloidal physics, polymer-nanoparticle composites, chromatin biophysics, DNA nanotechnology, viral DNA packaging, single-molecule force spectroscopy, nanoscale…

Research Faculty

Cameron R. Bass

Associate Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Biomechanics of blast, blunt and ballistic trauma and pediatric trauma. His research focuses on injury risk from microscale to macroscale for the head, neck, thorax and extremities.

Adjunct Faculty

Jennifer L West

Fitzpatrick Family University Distinguished Professor of Engineering

Research Interests: Biomaterials, nanotechnology and tissue engineering that involves the synthesis, development, and application of novel biofunctional materials, and the use of biomaterials and engineering approaches to study biological problems.