research

BIOENGINEERING

Cells

The application of engineering principles and techniques to address problems in biology and medicine has resulted in a number of important contributions to healthcare and scientific discovery.

Work in this area includes understanding aspects of biological function at various levels (examples include biofluidics and cell mechanics) as well as tackling medical problems by developing instruments and devices that, for example, mimic biological organs (such as functional tissues) or assist in healthcare (such as drug-delivery devices).

Harvard's efforts in bioengineering spans various FAS departments (such as Chemical and Chemical Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Physics, and Statistics) as well as FAS Science initiatives such as those in Neuroscience, Genomics, Imaging and Mesoscale Structures, and the Rowland Institute. In addition the Division has strong ties to the Harvard Medical School Quad, particularly departments such as Cell Biology, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Neurobiology, and Systems Biology as well as the teaching hospitals.

The bioengineering research environment in the Cambridge-Boston area is one of the richest in the nation, with leading science and engineering institutions, world-renowned medical schools and hospitals, and a large concentration of biotechnology companies.

Research Groups

Biomaterial Engineering for Regenerative Medicine
Biorobotics Laboratory
Experimental Soft Condensed Matter Group
Harvard Biocontrols Laboratory
Harvard Neuromotor Control Lab
Laboratory for Cell and Tissue and Engineering

Areas of Focus

Biomechanics

  • at the microscopic level, connecting structure to function through studies of interaction forces among proteins, the rheology of the cytoskeleton, and the morphology of tissue growth
  • at the macroscopic scale, understanding animal locomotion and human manipulation
  • applying the principles of fluid mechanics to the problems in water transport in plants and the semicircular canals in humans


Researchers

Aizenberg, Joanna
Brenner, Michael P.
Edwards, David A.
Howe, Robert D.
Mahadevan, L.
Mooney, David J.
Parker, Kit
Smith, Maurice A.
Stone, Howard A.
Weitz, David A.
Wood, Robert J.


Cell and Tissue Engineering

  • understanding the properties of individual cells, the material constituents of cells, and the assemblies of cells
  • application of these techniques includes studies of cardiac electromechanical coupling and the development of new drug delivery systems

Researchers

Aizenberg, Joanna
Auguste, Debra T.
Edwards, David A.
Mahadevan, L.
Mooney, David J.
Parker, Kit
Weitz, David A.
Westervelt, Robert M.


Instrumentation and Imaging

  • tool building for micro- and nano-scale fabrication
  • NMR
  • microscopy
  • techniques for image-guided surgery

Researchers

Howe, Robert D.
Parker, Kit
Weitz, David A.

Neural Engineering

  • understanding and modeling the nonlinear coding strategies employed by neural ensembles in the various pathways of the brain
  • extracellular recording systems permit the monitoring of ensemble neural activity in the somatosensory and visual systems in response to computer-controlled sensory stimuli
  • understanding and modeling the brain's motor control system and how the brain learns new motor skills, especially in patients with neurological disorders

Researchers

Brockett, Roger W.
Smith, Maurice A.