Brief History and Overview of the Department

The Biomedical Engineering graduate program at the University of Texas at Austin began in 1969 within the College of Engineering. In fall 2001, Biomedical Engineering became a full academic department and now offers degrees at both the graduate and undergraduate level. The program first got its own building on campus in 2008. The number of faculty in our department 2002 was 13 and averaged about 15 until 2010. In recent years, the number has risen to 26 primary faculty in 2021. Student enrollment has increased from 161 undergraduate students in fall 2002 to 562 in fall 2021, and from 62 graduate students in fall 2002 to 130 in fall 2021. The graduate program is at its largest in fall 2021 with 130 students. The graduate program has primarily been focused on Ph.D. training. Until 2012, the three technical areas of focus were biomedical imaging and instrumentation, cellular and biomolecular engineering, and computational biomedical engineering. In 2012, a fourth technical area, biomechanics, was added. Today the department is focused on expanding research in two areas in particular: neural engineering and systems biology. 

Core Research Areas

The University of Texas at Austin Department of Biomedical Engineering provides a broad education with research expertise across four major core areas:

Biomedical Imaging and Instrumentation

New imaging technologies are providing the ability to interrogate and manipulate living biological specimens dynamically to yield information at the molecular, cellular, and tissue levels. We believe these techniques will dramatically advance minimally invasive optical technologies and the biological questions and medical problems they are being used to address. Our department focuses on interdisciplinary research for disease detection. The emphasis is to integrate new advances in imaging science, molecular markers of disease, and novel contrast agents for translational research.

Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering

Cellular and biomolecular engineering form the underpinning of molecular medicine. Areas that fall within the context of cell and biomolecular include tissue engineering, the synthesis of biomaterials that modulate tissue responses, development of smart drug delivery matrices, the design of therapeutic macromolecules, gene therapy and many others. At UT Austin, we have a core of faculty that has established an outstanding record of scientific accomplishment and technological innovation. Several successful companies have sprung out of research carried out at UT Austin by BME faculty, including Pharmacyclics, Therasense and Focal.

Computational Biomedical Engineering

Advances in genomic technologies have the potential to revolutionize the way healthcare is practiced; however, computational advances and a new kind of biological information science are required to achieve this potential. Conducting research at this interface of computational biomedical engineering, prognostics and diagnostics that combine clinical data with patient specific genotyping and molecular profiling have the potential to produce significantly improved choice of therapies for individual patients.

Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Biomechanics

Biomechanics is the study of the structure and function of biological systems such as humans, animals, plants, organs, cells, and molecules by means of the methods of mechanics. At Texas BME, our researchers apply engineering principles to understand how living systems function at all scales of organization and to translate this understanding to the design of devices and procedures that will improve diagnostic and therapeutic methods in health care.