Biomedical Engineering Faculty
Program Chair
Faculty
Associate Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Immunotherapy and radiotherapy in cancer prevention and treatment; premature aging and carcinogenesis; DNA damage response signaling in heart development

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Development of hybrid positron emission tomography (PET) (e.g. PET-CT and PET-MR) tools to enable precision imaging for the care and study of oncology, neurology, and cardiology patients.

Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: NMR spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy in conjunction with the application of stable isotope tracers to study metabolic function

Assistant Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Developing non- and minimally invasive optical tools to monitor deep tissues in health and disease, as well as throughout therapy

Professor
Training Track: Biomaterials, Mechanics and Tissue Engineering
Research Interests: Cancer, cell polarity, developmental biology, morphogenesis, stem/progenitor cells, tissue engineering and regeneration

Professor
Training Track: Biomaterials, Mechanics and Tissue Engineering
Research Interests: Nerve regeneration; long nerve gap repair; nerve-machine interface

Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: In vivo 1H and 13C MR spectroscopy; MRS applications in brain tumors and neuropsychiatric diseases; MR physics and MR method development

Associate Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Development of MR-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound for preclinical and clinical imaging

Associate Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Molecular imaging techniques and nanomedicine-technology development to better understand and characterize liver disease

Professor
Research Interests: Regulation of cell morphogenesis during metastasis; roles of mechanics in cell survival and drug resistance

Assistant Professor
Training Track: Molecular and Translational Nanomedicine
Research Interests: Ultrasound contrast agent, perfluorocarbon emulsions, development of new ultrasound-based strategies for early detection and treatment of diseases

Assistant Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: The long-term goal of our lab’s research is to develop and implement imaging technologies that provide unprecedented insight into cancer biology.

Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Prevention and early detection of neurological injury associated with surgery

Professor
Training Track: Molecular and Translational Nanomedicine
Research Interests: Cancer microenvironment, tumor targeted immunotherapy, antibody engineering, anti-cancer treatment-induced immune responses

Professor
Training Tracks: Molecular and Translational Nanomedicine; Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Activatable optical/MRI imaging probes to study tumor metabolism and theranostic nanomedicine for cancer-targeted drug therapy

Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Evaluate the use of newly designed biodegradable stints to treat pulmonary artery stenosis

Associate Professor
Training Track: Medical Physics
Research Interests: Image processing in radiation therapy; deformable-image registration; radiation-dose calculations; robotic control for patient positioning

Professor
Research Interests: Statistical analysis and rational design of cellular systems; evolutionary design of the bacterial flagellum

Professor
Research Interests: Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; ultra-high field MRI; hardware; RF coils; B0 shimming; sequence development; data analysis

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Developing (epi)genomic/bioinformatic tools to assess and predict the functions of regulatory elements, epigenetic biomarkers of disease state, epigenetics in development and disease, global regulation of mammalian gene expression, non-coding genome function

Professor
Training Tracks: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging; Biomaterials, Mechanics and Tissue Engineering
Research Interests: Heart-lung interaction; lung morphometry; structure-function correlation of lung growth

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Quantitative single-molecule imaging of receptor organization and signaling; linking molecular and cellular behavior across multiple scales; computational image analysis and data multiplexing

Professor
Training Tracks: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging; Medical Physics
Research Interests: High-performance computing for radiation therapy and medical imaging; radiation-dose calculation; Monte Carlo simulation; 3D/4D cone beam CT reconstruction; image-guided radiation therapy

Professor
Training Tracks: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging; Medical Physics
Research Interests: Cloud and GPU-based high-performance computing in medical physics and imaging; automatic radiotherapy treatment planning; adaptive radiotherapy; image-guided radiotherapy; low-dose and dynamic-cone-beam CT

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Molecular recognition in protein folding, chaperone structural biology and neurodegeneration

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: DNA, RNA, and bisulfite sequence alignment, graph alignment to population of genomes and genotyping, personalized medicine with a focus on cancer diagnosis

Associate Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Generation and application of hyperpolarized13C-labeled compounds and89Y-complexes for MRI/Radiopharmaceutical applications

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Computational cancer immunology, tumor-immune interaction and high-throughput profiling of immune receptor repertoire

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Theoretical and computational approaches to predict protein folding and aggregation; evolutionary dynamics

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Adaptive radiation therapy; treatment-plan optimization; radiation-dose calculations

Assistant Professor
Training Tracks: Molecular and Translational Nanomedicine; Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Bioresponsive nanomaterials for in vivo detection and therapy; targeted and activatable ultrasound (US) agents for the detection of inflammation and cancer

Assistant Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Development of novel MR-imaging techniques for whole-body cancer screening and staging

Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging Track
Research Interests: Parturition (the process of labor); cervical ripening; male and female reproductive biology

Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging Track
Research Interests: Deep Learning applications in neuroimaging including brain tumor molecular marker prediction, Traumatic Brain Injury, MEG, MRI, fMRI

Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: 13C MRS methods for measuring cardiac intermediary-metabolism flux and function analysis/neurotransmitter metabolism of human brain

Professor
Training Tracks: Molecular and Translational Nanomedicine; Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Tumor pathophysiology and MR assessment of prognostic biomarkers/hypoxia and pH

Assistant Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Developing state-of-the-art machine-learning approaches to extract radiological imaging and imaging-genomic biomarkers for individualized prognostics in neuroscience and oncological applications

Assistant Professor
Training Track: Medical Physics
Research Interests: Radiation therapy treatment planning, optimization techniques and algorithms, artificial intelligence technology development and applications
Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Application of structural (X-ray, CT, and MR) and functional (SPECT and PET) imaging methods to quantify changes in bone mass and metabolism induced by metabolic bone diseases; in vivo assessment of beta-cell mass and function by novel probes; novel PET and SPECT probe development for bone cells

Assistant Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging Track
Research Interests: Development of noninvasive molecular imaging tools to elucidate in vivo metabolism

Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Development of novel MRI techniques for improved diagnosis of abdominal/pelvic diseases and noninvasive in vivo assessment of physiology and response to therapy in tumors

Associate Professor
Training Track: Biomaterials, Mechanics and Tissue Engineering
Research Interests: Heart, lung, and perfusion preservation, magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Assistant Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Spatial organization of tumors by combining machine identified phenotypes and existing pathology scoring within the framework established by cancer biology

Assistant Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Role of cycloxygenase-2 in radiation and chemo-resistance, role of small molecule inhibitors as radio-sensitizers

Associate Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Role of cycloxygenase-2 in radiation and chemo-resistance, role of small molecule inhibitors as radio-sensitizers

Professor
Training Tracks: Molecular and Translational Nanomedicine; Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Responsive MRI contrast agents, targeted MR and PET agents, carbon-13 tracers of metabolism, high-field magnetic resonance spectroscopy in vivo

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Polymer and materials chemistry, drug and gene delivery, RNAi, biomedical imaging, detection and treatment of cancer

Professor
Training Track: Molecular and Translational Nanomedicine
Research Interests: Clinical application of nanoprobes with unique nanoscale behavior

Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Development of PET, SPECT, and MRI imaging probes to assess biological abnormalities and evaluation of disease treatment

Assistant Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Congenital heart disease, cardiac MRI, cardiac imaging, wearable devices, predictive analytics

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Antibiotic resistance and sensitivity; single molecule biophysics; synthetic biology

Associate Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Endogenous and exogenous MRI contrast agents and mechanisms in vivo, CEST and PARACEST imaging, hyperpolarization

Associate Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Immunogenomics, Tumor genomics, Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, and Machine learning

Assistant Professor
Training Track: Medical Physics
Research Interests: Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, Machine learning, Immunogenomics, and Tumor genomics

Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: My methodology research is focused on model development for high-dimensional data such as gene expression, epigenomics, copy number variation, proteomics, genome-wide RNAi functional screening data and brain image data.

Professor
Research Interests: Biostatistics, bioinformatics, statistical genomics, clinical trial design, and biomarker studies

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Statistical genetics, genetic epidemiology, bioinformatics, gene mapping for complex traits

Associate Professor
Training Track: Molecular and Translational Nanomedicine
Research Interests: Mass spectrometry, post-translational modifications, quantitative proteomics, signal transduction/cancer biology and metabolism

Assistant Professor
Training Track: Biomedical and Molecular Imaging
Research Interests: Detect early changes in the mitochondrial metabolism, in situ, as a marker for asymptomatic, subclinical, doxorubicin induced cardiotoxicity
Assistant Professor
Training Track: Medical Physics
Research Interests: Radiation therapy treatment planning, optimization techniques and algorithms, artificial intelligence technology development and applications
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: 3D/4D CT/CBCT reconstruction and analysis, 4D MRI reconstruction, artificial intelligence and automation in radiation therapy, biomechanical modeling and finite element analysis, deformable registration and its application in image-guided radiation therapy, radiotherapy dose calculation and plan optimization

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Computational Biology; Systems biology and functional Genomics; Machine learning and statistics for biomedical science; Genomic sequence-based regulation

Associate Faculty
These faculty members do not accept graduate students. They participate in teaching, co-mentoring, exam and dissertation committees, and all other program activities.
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Applying new technologies to improve clinical operations, and working in partnership with physicians to develop novel techniques.

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Eukaryotic chromatin organization, mutational rates and spectra, biological signals and noise

Professor
Research Interests: Urology; laparoscopy, telesurgical mentoring

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Sub concussive head impact exposure in contact sports, traumatic brain injury, magnetoencephalography

Professor
Research Interests: Understand the basic biomechanical and neurophysiological properties of the lower limb after neurological lesions. Explore the neuro-mechanical underpinnings of lower limb impairments after stroke, with the goal of informing future clinical interventions

Professor Emeritus
Research Interests: Biomaterials; circulatory assist devices

Associate Professor
Research Interests:

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Deep learning application in magnetic resonance imaging, dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE- MRI)

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Quality assurance and student learning in Virtual vs clinical environment. Isocenter localization correlation between Radiation Therapist and Masters education program radiation therapy students. A comparison and agreement study.

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Tissue-Response modeling in radiation therapy

Professor
Research Interests: General psychiatry, aging and geriatric issues, new applications of lead placement in ECT and novel treatments of major depressive disorder including magnetic seizure therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, deep brain stimulation, and vagus nerve stimulation

Professor
Research Interests: Circulatory assist devices, cardiac metabolism

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Real-time imaging of hematopoietic stem cells and their niches using two-photon intravital microscopy

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, biomaterials, biomechanics, pediatric airway disorders

Professor
Research Interests: Cervical cancer, developmental therapeutics, ovarian cancer, early detection of ovarian cancer

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Molecular-imaging instrumentation, linear and nonlinear diffraction tomography, tensor tomography, applied inverse problems

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Engineering probes and assays for monitoring islet beta-cell mass or function in vivo; physiological regulation of hormone secretion in pancreatic islets; functional analysis of microRNA

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Development of reporter genes and evaluation of different gene reporters

Professor
Research Interests: Novel molecular-based contrast agents, with emphasis on ultrasound solutions, which can be used to detect and/or treat cancer, including image guided tumor ablation, ultrasound directed drug or gene delivery, or cell-based therapy

Professor
Research Interests: fMRI; DICOMs

Professor
Research Interests: Tissue-response modeling in radiation therapy; stereotactic radiation therapy

Associate Professor
Research Interests: In vivo MRS for studies of energy and phospholipids metabolism in brain and skeletal muscle

Professor
Research Interests: Neural cardiovascular control during exercise; reflex dysfunction in heart failure; reflex dysfunction in hypertension

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Clinical applications of new spectral CT technologies

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Radiogenomics with a special focus on identifying imaging measures extracted from quantitative MRI parameters as a noninvasive tool to better predict biological characteristics in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Biomedical optics, In Vivo cell tracking, Optical tomography-guided radiation therapy and Ultra-high dose rate irradiation

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Biomaterial grafts, coatings and scaffolds; finite element analysis; polymer synthesis; bioresorbable polymer characterization

Associate Professor
Research Interests: High-performance computing; infrastructure for radiation therapy; radiobiological effects

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Adrenal disorders,r elationship between obesity and metabolic health and hyposialylation of IgG in adolescent patients

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers, wound healing, medical device design, biomechanics

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Applied mathematics and MRI methods for translational research in liver imaging with special focus on evaluation of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
