CU Center for Bioengineering: Intersection of Engineering, Technology, Medicine, and Science
What the School of Bioengineering Does
The University of Colorado (CU) Center for Bioengineering (the Center) is part of the CU School of Medicine. The Center innovates healthcare technology through cross-disciplinary training and collaborations between engineering and health sciences. Its mission is to improve human health through the application of engineering principles, ideas, methods, and inventions to train students to solve important clinical problems.
Current Landscape
The Center is one of the few programs nationally that provides opportunities for engineering students and researchers to work directly on a world-class medical campus. The combination of technical learning, immersive experiences in the clinical and biomedical enterprise beyond the classroom, and out-of-classroom opportunities to learn about cutting-edge patient care and research, is provided by only a handful of universities across the U.S. Students have opportunities to learn from clinicians and engineers and to perform research or medical device design in world-class hospitals and clinical research labs.
School of Bioengineering Birth Story
Established in 2010, the Center became the first Bioengineering/Biomedical Engineering Department in Colorado, and the only one in the state located on a medical campus. The new department was created to bring engineers, clinicians, and medical researchers together while also serving as a driver of economic development in bioengineering fields, thus providing economic stimulus to the state as well.
Founding chair Robin Shandas, Ph.D., a University of Colorado Distinguished Professor, led the comprehensive bioengineer program for more than a decade before stepping down in 2022. Kristyn S. Masters, Ph.D., was appointed chair of the University of Colorado Denver Department of Bioengineering and the Director of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus Center for Bioengineering, following an extensive national search. These coupled roles provide the leadership to the unique cross-campus bioengineering program.
Solution
Teaching:
- Undergraduate (B.S.) Students: Dual-campus structure. Spend first two years downtown at the CU Denver Auraria Campus, then second two years at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.
- S. Students: 1-2 year program. Course, project, or thesis-based.
- D. Students: Fully-funded; dept. is highly competitive for top candidates.
The Center also provides key engineering resources across the CU Anschutz Medical Campus including 3D polymer and metal prototyping, sophisticated materials characterization, FDA-based design support for medical device development, and large-scale, multi-physics computational modeling for clinical predictions. Membership is open to faculty, scientists, industry representatives, and entrepreneurs across Colorado who are interested in advancing biomedical engineering research and innovation.
Engineering:
- Five semesters of undergraduate design:
- Real-life projects proposed by real-life clients
- Many culminate in patents/papers, or even start-ups
- Capstone Design Expo in May
New Certificate/Credential Program: Quality Assurance & Regulatory Affairs
- Online and asynchronous with a 3-day, in-person experience hosted by local Denver Metro area companies in the final Capstone class
- Targeted at upskilling working professionals in the biotech industry
Impact
The Bioengineering Graduate Program provides multidisciplinary training focused on the application of engineering, computational techniques, and mathematics to biological systems and biomedical technology. Research training is provided under the mentorship of graduate faculty in Bioengineering and affiliate faculty.
Research Areas Include: Cardiovascular Engineering, Neural Engineering, Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials, Medical Devices, Pulmonary Engineering, and Assistive Technology and Rehabilitation
Department Overview:
- 15 core BIOE faculty research labs
- 25+ affiliate faculty across campus
- $12M in annual research funding
- 14 start-up companies founded
Innovation in Action:
- Neeves Lab: Developing microbots for Thrombolysis. Microwheels restore blood flow in a mouse model of stroke.
- Magin Lab: Creating 3D human lung models to advance drug discoveryand validation
- Jacot Lab for Pediatric Regenerative Medicine engineeers small heart “organoids” from cells from people with Down syndrome to study how these defects form.
- Bodine Center for Inclusive Design and Engineering accelerates applied transdisciplinary technology research and innovation for persons with disabilities and those aging into disability. Bodine offers Graduate Certificate/Credential: Assistive Technology and Inclusive Engineering.
- Masters Lab for Disease Modeling uses tissue engineering-based tools to create disease-mimicking platforms.
- Shandas Lab for Bioinnovation translates engineering ideas and inventions into clinical use. Shandas is currently focused on augmented reality needle tracking.
Industry Supporters
Allosource, Cerapedics, DeLeon Research, Inc., Edgewise Therapeutics, Gates Institute, Gates Biomanufacturing Facility, Highridge Medical, KBI Biopharma, Medtronic, Monarch Medical Technologies, Nissha Medical Technologies, Standard Biotools, STAQ Pharma, Terumo BCT, Tolmar, TriSalus Life Sciences, and Umoja Biopharma
Chair Quote
“Engineering, the word itself, actually does not come from the word engine, but the word ingenuity. I really think of that—ingenuity—as being at the core of bioengineering.”
– Kristyn Masters, CU Denver Bioengineering Department Chair and Professor
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