The Department of Bioengineering is the home and hub of Berkeley's efforts to apply engineering tools and principles to living things. Our faculty apply their diverse perspectives and skills to the spectrum of challenges facing human health, the environment, and biological research.

Areas of Special Impact

Faculty Research Areas

close up photo of microfluidic device

Bioinstrumentation

Bioinstrumentation is one of the most familiar faces of bioengineering: the development of technologies and devices for affecting biological systems.
heart microchamber

Biomaterials & Nanotechnology

The design of biological and bio-inspired materials for the repair and construction of biological systems, biomaterials combines with nanotechnology to assemble materials and devices at the scale of proteins, DNA and other biomolecules.
Kumar lab 2017 skin cells

Cell & Tissue Engineering

Cell and tissue engineering studies how cells behave and accomplish their functions in order to direct cellular activities to perform useful biological tasks, while tissue engineering and regenerative medicine work toward the same goals at the larger scale of tissues, fluids and organs.

Computational Biology

Computational biology uses the techniques of computer programmers and data scientists to approach biological problems, and is becoming an increasingly critical factor in biological research and engineering.
closely cropped photo of researcher holding a petri dish with growths and markings

Systems & Synthetic Biology

The design and construction of parts, devices and systems from biological components, generally at the cellular and molecular scale, allows synthetic and systems biologists to build cells, microbes and biological networks to perform valuable functions.

News About: Faculty Research

Heart-on-a-chip may lead to new treatments for heart failure

A team led by Professors Kevin Healy and Niren Murthy have developed a microfluidic heart-on-a-chip, with which they were able to discover a lipid nanoparticle that could penetrate the dense heart muscle and efficiently deliver its cargo of therapeutic mRNA into heart muscle cells. This new drug delivery method and testing platform may pave the way to new cardiac treatments.

Taner Sen and Colleagues Sequence Complex Oat Pangenome

Adjunct Professor Taner Sen and his colleagues at the USDA and beyond have assembled and annotated the genomes of 33 wild and domesticated oat lines, along with an atlas of gene expression across in 23 of these lines, which will enable future efforts to even more hardy and productive strains of the popular grain.

Fletcher elected to National Academy of Medicine

Professor Dan Fletcher has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine for his contributions to the mechanistic understanding of biological self-assembly and mechanotransduction, and his work developing mobile phone-based microscopy for remote diagnosis of infectious diseases. Election to the academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.

UC Berkeley scientists uncover neural mechanisms behind long-term memory

Researchers from Professor Michael Yartsev’s lab used wireless recording devices to track neural activity in Egyptian fruit bats, revealing new clues to how our long-term memories are formed.

Keasling Named 2025 DOE/NAI Innovator of the Year

The Department of Energy and the National Academy of Inventors have honored Professor Jay Keasling with their 2025 Innovator of the Year Award, which goes to one DOE employee who has translated research into tangible impacts that have benefited society at large. Keasling is a pioneer in synthetic biology who leads a groundbreaking research program focused on engineering microorganisms to produce advanced biofuels and chemicals.

New Process Uses Microbes to Create Valuable Materials from Urine

A team led by BioE alumnus Yasuo Yoshikuni genetically modified yeast to create hydroxyapatite, a strong and lightweight material, from the elements present in urine. With lower production costs the material may now be practical for use in wastewater treatment, fertilizer manufacturing, building materials and plastic replacement.

UC Berkeley Awards $200K Venture Grant to HypO2Regen Therapeutics

Professor Phil Messersmith and colleagues have launched HypO2Regen Therapeutics, a startup developing novel, disease-modifying therapeutics for chronic intractable inflammatory diseases, including the first cell-free stem cell treatment that induces true regeneration of damaged tissue. Their first effort takes aim at periodontitis, which affects over 300 million people worldwide.

Stanley Qi: “For many people, waiting is not an option”

PhD alumnus Stanley Qi, now a professor at Stanford University, is interviewed about his work developing advanced gene-editing tools to treat life-threatening diseases and slow the onset of neurological aging.

Lareau named MTI Innovator

Professor Liana Lareau is recognized for her revolutionary approach to treat retinitis pigmentosa and other dominant genetic diseases by combining CRISPR prime editing with machine learning.

Indigenous knowledge helps biotech find new drugs. This grad student wants those companies to give back.

Bioengineering doctoral student Maria Astolfi and her colleagues argue for a new type of partnership with indigenous peoples to create a more ethical bioeconomy.