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

Alice Tang named to 30 Under 30

Congratulations to bioengineering MD/PhD candidate Alice Tang, named to the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30! Tang has pioneered methods to analyze millions of health records using AI, uncovering revelations about complex diseases like Alzheimer’s. 

Nature provides the answers

An in-depth look at research by Professor Phil Messersmith, who draws on biology to develop cutting-edge materials for medicine. His lab creates adhesives and therapies designed to work with the human body, offering new ways to repair tissues, heal wounds and treat disease.

Researchers pioneer greener way to extract rare earth elements

Professor Seung-Wuk Lee has pioneered a biomining technique that could be a clean and more sustainable way to mine the rare earth elements essential to modern technology. His lab genetically engineered a harmless virus to act like a “smart sponge” that grabs rare earth metals from water, and, with a gentle change in temperature and acidity (pH), releases them for collection.

Four BioE Faculty Named 2025 Highly Cited Researchers

Professors Paul Adams, Adam Arkin, Patrick Hsu, and Jay Keasling have been recognized in the “2025 Highly Cited Researchers” list, meaning their work ranks in the top 1% of citations for their field and publication year in Clarivate’s Web of Science citation index

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.