Independent of the 13 Biosciences Home Programs

Contact Information
Faculty and their Research Interests

The Department of Bioengineering is jointly supported by the Schools of Medicine and Engineering. It includes research and teaching programs that embrace biology as an engineering paradigm and apply engineering principles to understand biological systems, develop new biomedical technologies and therapies, and solve medical problems.

The mission of Stanford’s Department of Bioengineering is to create a fusion of engineering and the life sciences that promotes scientific discovery and the development of new biomedical technologies and therapies through research and education. 

The facilities and personnel of the Department of Bioengineering are housed in the James H. Clark Center, William F. Durand Building for Space Engineering and Science, William M. Keck Science Building, the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building, and the Richard M. Lucas Center for Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging. The research and educational thrusts are in biomedical computation, biomedical imaging, biomedical devices, regenerative medicine, and cell/molecular engineering. The clinical dimension of the department includes cardiovascular medicine, neuroscience, orthopedics, cancer care, neurology, and environment.

For more information contact:
Olgalydia Urbano-Winegar
Student Services Manager
Department of Bioengineering
318 Campus Drive, Clark S166
Stanford, CA 94305-5444
(650) 723-8632
(650) 721-3088 (fax)
bioengineering@stanford.edu
http://bioengineering.stanford.edu/

Faculty and their Research Interests

Russ Altman. Our laboratory focuses on three areas. First, we are interested in understanding the relationship between genotype and phenotype, and are working in pharmacogenomics to understand how genetic background affects the response to drugs (http://www.pharmgkb.org/). Second, we are interested in analyzing the structure and dynamics of three dimensional structures, particularly with a focus on the dynamics of RNA (http://simbios.stanford.edu/). Third, we are interested in using machine learning methods to understand how structure correlates with function (http://feature.stanford.edu/), and to extract biological knowledge from natural language text in support of functional genomics.

Annelise Barron. Annelise E. Barron’s group in bioengineering works at the interface between biotechnology, polymer science, and medicine.  One part of her team focuses on developing novel materials and strategies for high-throughput DNA sequencing and genotyping by microchip electrophoresis, including technologies for the rapid detection of genetic mutations related to cancer.  The other part of her group is creating and studying novel, stable peptide analogs that mimic the folds and functions of bioactive protein domains and offer promising therapeutic or biotechnology applications.

Kwabena Boahen. Our group has two synergistic goals: to understand how brains work, which will enable us to replace damaged neural tissue, and to build computers that work like brains, which will enable us to increase computational power a million-fold. To these ends, we model brains using an approach far more efficient than software simulation: we emulate the flow of ions directly with the flow of electrons. Thus, our work links electronics and computer science with neurobiology and medicine.

Zev Bryant. Molecular motors lie at the heart of biological processes from DNA replication to vesicle transport. My laboratory seeks to understand the physical mechanisms by which these nanoscale machines convert chemical energy into mechanical work. We use single molecule tracking and manipulation techniques to observe and perturb substeps in the mechanochemical cycles of individual motors. Protein engineering helps us to explore relationships between molecular structures and mechanical functions. Broad topics of current interest include torque generation by DNA-associated ATPases and mechanical adaptations of unconventional myosins.

Dennis Carter. Professor Carter studies the influence of mechanical loading upon the growth, development, regeneration, and aging of skeletal tissues. Basic information from such studies is used to understand skeletal diseases and treatments. He has served as President of the Orthopaedic Research Society and is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Jennifer Cochran. The Cochran laboratory uses chemistry, engineering, and biophysics to study complex biological systems. Her research is driven by the philosophy that in order to control physiological processes it is necessary to understand the molecular mechanisms that drive these processes. Her group is interested in elucidating molecular details of receptor-mediated cell signaling events; at the same time developing protein and polymer-based tools to manipulate cellular processes on a molecular level. For biomedical applications, her lab is combining rational and combinatorial methods to create designer protein therapeutics and diagnostic agents. Clinical applications of her research involves bone and wound healing, biomimetic corneas, and cancer imaging and therapy.
http://www.stanford.edu/group/cochrangroup/

Markus Covert. Our focus is on building computational models of complex biological processes and using these models to guide an experimental program.  Such an approach leads to a relatively rapid identification and validation of previously unknown components and interactions. Biological systems of interest include metabolic, regulatory, and signaling networks as well as intercellular interactions. Current research involves the dynamic behavior of NF-kappa B, an important family of transcription factors whose aberrant activity has been linked to oncogenesis, tumor progression, and resistance to chemotherapy.

Karl Deisseroth. Research in Dr. Deisseroth’s laboratory focuses on developing molecular and cellular tools to observe, perturb, and re-engineer brain circuits. His laboratory is based in the James H. Clark Center at Stanford and develops and employs a range of techniques including optogenetics, tissue engineering methods, electrophysiology, molecular biology, neural activity imaging, animal behavior, and computational neural network modeling. Also a physician in the psychiatry department, Professor Deisseroth employs novel electromagnetic brain stimulation techniques in human patients for therapeutic purposes.
http://www.stanford.edu/group/dlab/

Scott Delp. Scott Delp is interested in the form and function of complex living systems ranging from molecular motors to persons with movement disorders. His laboratory seeks fundamental understanding of the mechanisms involved in the production of movement, and is motivated to improve treatments for individuals with cerebral palsy, stroke, osteoarthritis, and Parkinson’s disease. While research and education are his primary activities, Professor Delp is  also involved in the development of new biomedical technologies and devices.

Drew Endy.  The immediate goal of our research is to enable the engineering of genetically encoded memory systems.  Modest amounts of programmable memory, if implemented within living cells, would have a profound impact on the study and treatment of many diseases, and would broadly enable many non-medical applications of biotechnology.  We are interested in both the basic and applied aspects of the problem, from considering how to best store information inside cells, to practical applications.  Our overall long term goal is to help make biology easy to engineer, an area of research known as synthetic biology.

KC Huang. Our laboratory is interested in the relationships among cell shape detection, determination, and maintenance in bacteria. Cell shape plays a critical role in regulating many physiological functions, yet little is known about how the wide variety of cell shapes are determined and maintained. Inside the cell, many proteins organize and segregate, but how they detect and respond to the cellular morphology is also largely mysterious. We are integrating computational physics-based models with evolutionary and synthetic biology approaches to control morphogenesis and cellular organization. Current topics of interest are (i) cell-wall growth and shape determination, (ii) spatial mechanisms of cell-cycle control, (iii) cell division, (iv) membrane domain formation, (v) mechanosensitivity, and (vi) the mechanical basis of phototaxis.
http://whatislife.stanford.edu

Norbert Pelc. Norbert Pelc and his group work on diagnostic imaging. The broad current focus is advanced computed tomography (CT) methods, especially in the physics, engineering and mathematics of these systems. One current project aims to develop inverse geometry volumetric CT systems.  Realization of this concept involves work with high speed digital x-ray detectors, wide area x-ray source arrays, and very novel image reconstruction methods. Other projects relate to multi-energy CT imaging and understanding and optimizing the performance limitations of CT, especially with respect to dose efficiency.  We work closely with clinical colleagues to understand how new technology can bring about new biomedical knowledge and unique clinical applications.  Dr. Pelc is well informed about many other areas of medical imaging at Stanford.

Stephen Quake. Professor Quake’s interests lie at the nexus of physics, biology and biotechnology. His group pioneered the development of Microfluidic Large Scale Integration (mLSI), demonstrating the first integrated microfluidic devices with thousands of mechanical valves. This technology is helping to pave the way for large scale automation of biology at the nanoliter scale, and he and his students have been exploring applications of lab-on-a-chip technology in functional genomics, genetic analysis, and structural biology. Quake is also active in the field of single molecule biophysics; in 2003 his group demonstrated the first successful single molecule DNA sequencing experiments.

Matthew Scott. Our research is directed at understanding the genetic control of animal development and the relations of developmental biology to human disease. We investigate genes that control embryonic growth and patterning, using genetics, genomics, molecular biology, microscopy, and biochemistry, focusing on regulators that have been conserved for half a billion years.  Our genomics studies have identified genes that control development of Drosophila embryos and adults, mammalian stem cells, and the cerebellum. We study selected regulators in these contexts, including the Hedgehog signal transduction pathway and proteins involved in targeted transport processes within cells.  Hedgehog signaling controls the growth and differentiation of many tissues, while errors in Hedgehog signaling lead to a variety of tumors and birth defects. We are comparing normal growth of the cerebellum to the genesis of medulloblastoma tumors, the most common pediatric brain malignancy, using genomics and cell biology approaches.  The cerebellum is strongly affected by a neurodegenerative disease called Niemann-Pick C syndrome, which we study using mouse models.  In other work we are studying the neural circuitry that controls growth during development.  A small set of serotonergic neurons controls release of insulin-like proteins that coordinate growth, and we are investigating the molecules and mechanisms involved.
http://med.stanford.edu/labs/matthew_scott/

Christina Smolke. The Smolke laboratory is interested in using biology as a technology for the synthesis of new chemicals, materials, and products. We focus on developing foundational technologies for the design and construction of genetically encoded devices that perform information processing, communication, and control operations in living systems.  We also focus on the translation of such molecular tools into biotechnological and biomedical applications such as engineering microbes to produce new drug molecules and targeted cellular therapeutics.
http://openwetware.org/wiki/Smolke.

James Swartz. The current and projected research in the Swartz lab balances basic research in microbial metabolism, protein expression, and protein folding with a strong emphasis on compelling applications. The power and versatility of cell-free methods coupled with careful evaluation and engineering of these new systems enables a whole new range of applications and scientific investigation. Fundamental research on: the mechanisms and kinetics of ribosomal function, fundamental bioenergetics, basic mechanisms of protein folding, functional genomics, and metabolic pathway analysis is motivated by a variety of near- and medium term applications spanning medicine, energy, and environmental needs.

Charles Taylor. Professor Taylor’s research focuses on the application of computational and advanced imaging methods to the study of the cardiovascular system. Applications of this research include the creation of knowledge and development of technology for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Research projects in his laboratory range from biologic research focused on disease processes to development of magnetic resonance imaging techniques to quantify blood flow and vessel strain to the development of new computational algorithms for simulating blood flow in human arteries.

Paul Yock. Dr. Yock is internationally known for his work in inventing, developing and testing new medical devices, including the Rapid Exchange (tm) balloon angioplasty and stent system, now the dominant system in use worldwide, and the Doppler-guided hypodermic needle system, P-D Access (tm).   Dr. Yock also authored the fundamental patents for intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging and founded Cardiovascular Imaging Systems, now a division of Boston Scientific.  Dr. Yock’s research focuses on preclinical development and clinical trials of catheter devices, most recently in the area of stem cell delivery to the heart.  Dr. Yock also founded and directs the Program in Biodesign, which is a teaching and mentoring initiative focusing on the process of needs finding, invention and technology translation in the biomedical field.