Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number of pure and applied sciences, such as mass and heat transfer, kinetics, biocatalysts, biomechanics, bioinformatics, separation and purification processes, bioreactor design, surface science, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and polymer science. It is used in the design of medical devices, diagnostic equipment, biocompatible materials, renewable energy, ecological engineering, agricultural engineering, process engineering and catalysis, and other areas that improve the living standards of societies.
Ali Khademhosseini is the CEO of the Terasaki Institute, non-profit research organization in Los Angeles, and Omeat Inc., a cultivated-meat startup. Before taking his current CEO roles, he spent one year at Amazon Inc. Prior to that he was the Levi Knight chair and professor at the University of California-Los Angeles where he held a multi-departmental professorship in Bioengineering, Radiology, Chemical, and Biomolecular Engineering as well as the Director of Center for Minimally Invasive Therapeutics (C-MIT). From 2005 to 2017, he was a professor at Harvard Medical School, and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
Tejal Ashwin Desai is Sorensen Family Dean of Engineering at Brown University. Prior to joining Brown, she was the Deborah Cowan Endowed Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at University of California, San Francisco, Director of the Health Innovations via Engineering Initiative (HIVE), and head of the Therapeutic Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory. She was formerly an associate professor at Boston University (2002–06) and an assistant professor at University of Illinois at Chicago (1998–2001). She is a researcher in the area of therapeutic micro and nanotechnology and has authored and edited at least one book on the subject and another on biomaterials.
Anthony "Tony" Guiseppi-Elie is a Trinidad-born, American scientist, engineer, entrepreneur, and avid Wikipedia editor. He is the President and Sr. Fellow of the American International Institute of Medical Sciences, Engineering and Innovation and the President and Scientific director of ABTECH Scientific, Inc. He is noted for his research and commercial development of biologically inspired and chemically responsive electroconductive hydrogels. Guiseppi-Elie is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the transdisciplinary journal Bioengineering.
Bin He is a Chinese American biomedical engineering scientist. He is the Trustee Professor of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, professor by courtesy in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Professor of Neuroscience Institute, and was the head of the department of Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Prior, he was Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medtronic-Bakken Endowed Chair for Engineering in Medicine at the University of Minnesota. He previously served as the director of the Institute for Engineering in Medicine and the Center for Neuroengineering at the University of Minnesota. He was the Editor in Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering and serves as the editor in chief of IEEE Reviews in Biomedical Engineering. He was the president of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBS) from 2009 to 2010 and chair of International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering from 2018 to 2021.
The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) is a non-profit organization founded in 1991, and headquartered in Washington, D.C. It represents 50,000 medical and biomedical engineers, and academic institutions, private industry, and professional engineering societies.
Samir Mitragotri is an Indian American professor at Harvard University, an inventor, an entrepreneur, and a researcher in the fields of drug delivery and biomaterials. He is currently the Hiller Professor of Bioengineering and Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Prior to 2017, he was the Duncan and Suzanne Mellichamp Chair Professor at University of California, Santa Barbara.
George Alexander Truskey is an American biomedical engineer noted for his research on transport phenomena in biological systems, cardiovascular tissue engineering, and cell adhesion to natural and synthetic surfaces.
Ravi V. Bellamkonda is an Indian-American biomedical engineer and academic administrator. Since 2021, he has served as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Bellamkonda was previously Vinik Dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University.
Treena Livingston Arinzeh is an American biomedical engineer and academic.
Omolola (Lola) Eniola-Adefeso is a Nigerian-American chemical engineer and the University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Macromolecular Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan. Eniola-Adefeso is also a co-founder and chief scientific officer of Asalyxa Bio. Her research looks to design biocompatible functional particles for targeted drug delivery.
Steven R. Little is an American chemical engineer and pharmaceutical scientist. He currently holds the title of department chair, distinguished professor, and the William Kepler Whiteford Endowed Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. He also holds secondary appointments in bioengineering, pharmaceutical sciences, immunology, ophthalmology and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.
Juliane Nguyen is a professor at UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and vice chair of the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics (DPMP). She is also the Director of Graduate Admissions in DPMP at UNC at Chapel Hill.
Guillermo Antonio Ameer is the Daniel Hale Williams Professor of biomedical engineering at the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and Surgery at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University and is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Biomedical Engineering Society, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Materials Research Society, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is an engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur.
Beth Ann Winkelstein is the Deputy Provost and the Eduardo D. Glandt President’s Distinguished Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Winkelstein has established an active research program that is recognized for elucidating the mechanisms of subfailure cervical spine injuries and the cellular events surrounding the etiology of chronic pain. She is further recognized for longstanding contributions to the discipline of biomechanics and for mentoring many students that have followed into research active careers. Her research focuses on orthopaedic and musculoskeletal disorders, including developing innovative new pharmacological treatments and biomedical devices; the mechanisms of bodily injury, especially injuries from sports, automobile accidents, and/or degenerative diseases; and new treatments for spine and other joint injuries.
Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez is an American biomedical engineer who is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Her work involves the development of polymeric biomaterials for medical devices and tissue regeneration. She also serves on the scientific advisory board of ECM Biosurgery and as a consultant to several companies on biostability evaluation of medical devices. Cosgriff-Hernandez is an associate editor of the Journal of Materials Chemistry B and Fellow of the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
Chenzhong Li is a Chinese-born Canadian & American biomedical engineer, chemist, inventor, professor, and journal editor. Li is the co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics (Elsevier) and the associate editors of journals RESEARCH (AAAS) and Biosensors (MDPI).
Cynthia "Cindy" Reinhart-King is an American biomedical engineer who is a University Distinguished Professor at Vanderbilt University. Her research considers cell motility and adhesion. She serves as president of the Biomedical Engineering Society.
Claudia Fischbach is a German bioengineer who is the Stanley Bryer 1946 Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University. She is Director of the Cornell Physical Sciences Oncology Center on the Physics of Cancer Metabolism.
Karen Leigh Christman is an American bioengineer who is the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and the Pierre Galletti Endowed Chair for Bioengineering Innovation at University of California, San Diego. Her research considers regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. She was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2023.
