89 courses with the subject BME, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
An introduction to the field of biomedical engineering with emphasis on application. Specific applications include biomechanics, bioimaging, bioinstrumentation, biotechnology/nanofabrication, artificial organs, cancer therapy and vaccines.
This introductory course aims to equip you with important fundamental, life-long, problem-solving skills in preparation for your journey into the field of Engineering. You will learn techniques to develop your innate creative talents, refine your ability to recognize unmet needs in healthcare, and how to tackle those problems systematically. The semi-flipped format of the class will be comprised of pre-class reading assignments and pre-recorded lectures; in-class lectures and exercises. Topics include: Reverse Engineering, Concept/Mind Mapping, Engineering Estimation (aka Fermi problems), Engineering Drawing, a Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (Triz), Brainstorming, Ideation, Patent Principles, Bio-Inspired Design, How Things are Made, “Designing for Humans,” and “Designing the Future.” By the end of the course, you should confidently identify yourself as an engineering problem-solver, lateral thinker, and inventor.
Quantitative analysis of transport phenomena in physiological systems, including fluid mechanics and mass transfer. Fluid statics, mass and momentum conservation, laminar and turbulent flow, microscale and macroscale analytical methods, mass transport with biochemical reactions, applications to transport in tissue and organs. Preferred prerequisites: ENGRD 2020 and MATH 2930.
Covers the essential concepts of human physiology needed to understand disease pathogenesis. The goal is to equip students with the knowledge of organ systems needed to design and engineer treatment options. Each organ system will be studied separately with emphasis on homeostatic mechanisms and the key diseases resulting from alterations of these physiological mechanisms. Key topics include, cell metabolism, endocrine system and diabetes, renal system and renal failure, musculoskeletal system and osteoarthritis, cardiovascular system and cardiac arrhythmia. Course utilizes best pedagogical strategies including group discussions, studio instruction, and interactive guest lectures by clinicians. Recommended prerequisite: BIOMG 1350 or their equivalent, and CHEM 2090 or their equivalent.
This seminar focuses on building professional skills while activating curricular content within the context of experiential learning activities. Students will pursue individual and team-based exercises, with reflective discussions.
This course serves as an introduction to thermodynamics and physical chemistry focused on the application to biomolecular systems. Topics include the role of entropy and free energy in determining biological reactions and processes such as enzymatic reactions or molecular interactions, protein folding/unfolding, single molecule mechanics, energy states, and equilibrium distribution of biomolecular and other systems. This course serves as the foundation for the Molecular, Cellular, and Systems Engineering (MCSE) concentration as well as the molecular principles of biomedical engineering course.
This course focuses on the fundamental understanding of implantable materials with respect to their design, analysis and use in human health. The course content includes the fundamentals of materials synthesis/fabrication, interactions between materials with tissues, quantitative analysis of material properties and how materials are used to impact human health.
This course will provide students a fundamental understanding of cellular systems essential for engineering effective biomedical applications. The course comprises of three modules. Module 1 will discuss the principles of cellular biology and mathematics that govern cell signaling, growth, and propagation. In the laboratory students will create and analyze mammalian cell growth curves. Biomedical applications such as bioreactors will be discussed. Module 2 will discuss how cells organize into tissue and organs within the human body. Characteristics of different cell types found within human body will be mathematically analyzed, with special emphasis on stem cells and their application in tissue engineering. Module 3 will discuss how immune cells react to infection and injury. In the laboratory students will explore stimulus driven immune cell migration.
Genomic and proteomic tools have revolutionized the capabilities of scientists to impact biology and medicine. This course aims to present the most influential molecular biology tools being used in biomedical engineering spanning three modules: (1) Synthetic Biology, which will include DNA recombinant technology, design of primers, vectors genetically modified organisms, and modeling genetic circuits; (2) Gene-editing, which will center around CRISPR-Cas technologies, and gene therapy approaches; and (3) Protein and immune engineering: structure determination, mass spectrometry, protein purification, therapeutic protein design, antibody-based drugs, and vaccines. Each module will consist of an overview of molecular-level tools used in these areas and the methods to evaluate and predict their effects. We will discuss the underlying principles of these techniques, how to interpret representative data, limitations of current approaches, and engineering challenges for the development of new and improved methods. Each module will also consist of a laboratory component.
This course will cover the mathematical foundation to analyze signals and model the behavior of biomedical systems in the time and frequency domains, and help students develop the mindset and skills necessary to produce high-quality measurements of a physiological or biological variable. Labs involving the design and construction of biomedical circuits to quantify a physiological or biological function will foster a broad perspective on biological and biomedical measurement, and provide practical application of linear systems theory and measurement principles covered in lectures.
This course will help students prepare for participation in the Clinical Immersion Program. BME undergraduates will be able to fully grasp the role engineers play in the medical ecosystem and the important contributions they make to medicine. Through a range of exposures to real-world practices and professionals, immersion scholars will take away a deeper understanding of the relationship between medicine and engineering. This experience will directly inform their final semesters and senior design project at Cornell and affect their future education and careers.
The behaviors of cells are increasing appreciated to be governed by a system of regulatory pathways, which processes information often in a multivariate, dynamic and non-linear fashion. The ability to reduce this complexity to predictable models is useful for designing new cancer therapies and genetically engineering cellular "machines". The course will cover: (1) analysis of dynamic control processes in cell biology, from intracellular pathways to networks to multicellular systems; (2) principles of computational systems biology, including genomic, proteomic, and transcriptomic algorithms; and (3) principles of synthetic biology, including gene circuit design and modeling. Students will learn to solve problems using computationally implemented algorithms and models, involving statistical methods, differential equation systems, multivariate regression, and logic-based approaches. This course is designed for upper-level undergraduate students in the biomedical, biological and/or engineering sciences.
The course in advanced biomaterials leads the class through the process of material design and characterization for their development as products in the medical device or pharmaceutical fields. Student teams will apply their fundamental knowledge of chemistry and biology to open-ended design challenges focused on biomaterial mechanics, processability, biocompatibility and federal regulatory requirements. Hands-on technical work in materials characterization will be combined with key knowledge of biomaterials to give the class an integrated understanding of biomaterials design and development. Specific topics to be covered are classes of biomaterials, methods of characterization, the interface of biomaterials and biology, the foreign body response, inflammation, wound healing, biofilms, sterilization methods, FDA-approval guidelines and EU-approval guidelines.
Covers the basic ideas and techniques involved in computational neuroscience. Surveys diverse topics, including neural dynamics of small networks of cells, neural coding, learning in neural networks and in brain structures, memory models of the hippocampus, sensory coding, and others.
This course teaches the fundamentals and applications of medical imaging techniques, including x-ray imaging and computed tomography, ultrasound imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, and nuclear medicine. Through lectures, programming problem sets and lab tours, the class provides a rigorous introduction to medical imaging, beginning with the basic physical principles of image formation and then onto image reconstruction and descriptions of the hardware used in clinical applications. Concepts covered include resolution, point-spread-functions, modulation transfer functions, signal-to-noise ratio, Fourier transform, and image filtering in spatial domain.
This course is an introduction to the engineering, clinical, legal and regulatory aspects of medical device performance and failure. Topics covered include a broad survey of the thousands of successful medical devices in clinical use, as well as historical case studies of devices that were withdrawn from the market. In-depth study of specific medical devices will include: cardiovascular medicine, orthopedics, and general medicine (defibrillators, blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes…) We will study the principles of operation (with hands-on examples), design evolution, modes of failure, and their ethical implications. Guest lectures will be provided by practicing engineers from medical device companies to provide real-world perspective of the development process. In addition to a mid-term and final exam covering topics presented in class, students will prepare a written report that critically investigates a particular medical device that has been recalled by the FDA, of the student’s choosing. The report will include the design history, engineering analysis, and recommendations for future improvements (re-design). The ultimate objectives of this course are to (1) provide students with a broad understanding of the spectrum of devices in healthcare, (2) stimulate critical analysis of medical device design, and (3) convey practical knowledge and skills that are valuable for a future career in the medical device industry.
This course analyzes how mechanical forces affect biological responses across biological scales, including molecular, cellular, tissue, organ, and organism level. Theoretical and empirical foundations and engineering approaches to applying, quantifying, and elucidating mechanobiological mechanisms across each scale will be presented. Applications in human health and disease pathogenesis will be emphasized.
This course focuses on applying techniques of engineering analysis to quantify function and dysfunction of human physiologic systems. Thematic areas include the cardiovascular, respiratory, musculoskeletal, and renal systems. Emphasis will be placed on developing mathematical models to understand function and dysfunction across tissue scales, and implementing these with experimental data to make biomedical engineering judgments.
Focuses on understanding how circulating agents and bioelectric activity comprises interorgan and central nervous system communication, and control of the human body. Additional emphasis includes examining medical devices involved in the treatment of human disease.
Biomedical Engineering Design I introduces students to the theory and practice of engineering design in the biomedical context through a hands-on, team-based project experience. Students identify unmet clinical or biomedical needs and progress through problem definition, concept generation, design specification, prototyping, and verification and validation. The course emphasizes human factors, regulatory and ethical considerations, product lifecycle thinking, and professional documentation, drawing on case studies and design tools used in industry. By the end of the semester, students develop and test part of a prototype while building skills in collaboration, technical communication, and reflective design practice. This course is the first in the two-semester capstone design sequence: BME 4080 and BME 4090.
Substantial design experience based on the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work combined with the fundamental design theory articulated in BME 4080.
This class will provide students with the skills needed for the design, fabrication, and characterization of experimental approaches relevant to Molecular, Cellular, and Systems engineering. Lectures will integrate three modules: the first module will focus on stem cell biology, differentiation, and characterization. The second module will provide a thorough understanding of polymeric scaffold design and characterization for tissue engineering applications. The third module will focus on analytic techniques suitable to analyze molecular, cellular, and systems-level signaling changes of cells in response to varied microenvironmental context. All three modules will be taught in a manner that will enable students to design and implement experimental approaches for cell manufacturing, tissue regeneration, and drug testing.
This class provides students with the basic skills needed to design and fabricate biomedical and bioanalytical instrumentation. Lectures cover analog and digital electronics, microcontrollers, microcontroller interfacing and firmware programming (in C). Circuit simulation (using CircuitLab) is covered as is an instruction to schematic capture and printed circuit board layout software (Eagle). Emphasis is on designing and building analog circuitry for sensors, analog to digital conversion and microcontroller/device and microcontroller/PC interfacing. Lab exercises involve the design and construction of a number of biomedically related circuits.
The transport of energy, mass, and momentum is essential to the function of living systems. Changes in these processes often underlie pathological conditions. This undergraduate level course covers the understanding and analysis of micro-macroscopic fluid flow phenomena within the human body and the relation between fluid flow and physiological processes. The topics covered in this course span cellular level to organs under healthy and diseased conditions. Instruction will include a combination lecture, discussion, practical homework, and projects. The goals of the course are to build conceptual understanding and analytical skills. Students are encouraged to engage with material independently and come to class ready to participate actively.
Biomedical engineering can address urgent, long-neglected challenges in women’s health, but effective design requires deliberate consideration of female-specific tissue mechanics and physiology. Failure to account for female health in engineering limits innovation and has contributed to product failures, including pelvic organ prolapse mesh devices, vaginal rings, hip implants, and cardiovascular stents. This course will (i) define female-specific mechanical and physiological considerations for effective engineering design, (ii) examine historical and contemporary examples of both successful and flawed engineering in women’s health, and (iii) identify current limitations, knowledge gaps, and open engineering challenges in the field. The central role of mechanics in tissue function and disease will be emphasized throughout the course. Lectures will present foundational material for students from diverse academic backgrounds and include interactive discussion of readings, problem sets, and engineering case studies. Term projects will provide students an opportunity to design healthcare solutions (undergraduate students) or research proposals (graduate students) that address critical gaps in women’s health. Recommended Prerequisites: BME 3410 Systems Mechanobiology; BME 2010 Physiology of Human Health and Disease; BME 2210 Biomedical Applications of Materials.
Science Policy Bootcamp: Concept to Conclusion, is an interdisciplinary service-learning course where students will explore the trends that shape science and innovation policy, understand core science policy concepts and engage in active policymaking work. This three-credit course will comprise of a three-hour long session that will meet every week. The first hour of each session will be devoted to broadening student's perspective on science policy. The following two hours will be spent working in groups on the primary activity of the course - a science policy advocacy project that builds over the full semester. Working in small groups, students will identify a key science policy issue. Together, they will thoroughly research the issue and contact key stakeholders, formulate a detailed plan to address the issue, and unique to this course - implement their plan for solving the problem toward the end of the semester. Examples may include drafting legislation, commenting on Federal or State rulemaking procedures, launching public outreach campaigns, or raising press awareness of an issue. This aspect of the course will include both mentored work in developing the idea and advocacy plan, as well as activities to build the skills necessary to be an effective policy advocate. Examples of such activities include mock press interviews and lobbying visits. As a result of the final project - students will have the unique opportunity to address a bona fide policy issue and create a working solution.
This course focuses on mastering experimental techniques related to measuring the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials and biological tissues. Students will learn techniques for measuring mechanical properties of cardiovascular and musculoskeletal tissues in tension, compression, shear, and bending. Students will learn to apply non-linear models to describe the behavior of elastic, viscoelastic, poroelastic, and hyperelastic materials.
Application of mechanics and materials principles to orthopaedic tissues. Physiology of bone, cartilage, ligament, and tendon and the relationship of these properties to their mechanical function. Mechanical behavior of skeletal tissues. Functional adaptation of these tissues to their mechanical environment. Tissue engineering of replacement structures.
This one semester course will be focused on exposing students to basic strategies in machine learning using neural networks and other machine learning techniques within the context of biomedical engineering. This includes early uses (classical fitting), and basic to concepts such as loss functions, models, backpropagation and training, as well as current layer (dense, convolutional networks and x-formers), and model architectures (e.g. autoencoders, U-Nets, adversarial networks, and large language models) and how these are applied towards current biomedical engineering tasks (medical image recognition, bioinformatics, etc.). This will be geared towards students who are interested in learning to design, code and understand common neural network strategies. Course materials will be primarily implemented in Python, using common packages, such as NumPy, SciPy, Pandas, and TensorFlow, in addition to open-source databases. Students are expected to have a basic familiarity with python programming and some experience with applying statistical methods.
Research or projects by an individual or a small group of undergraduates.
Intended for students pursuing the research honors program in BME. This course is the culmination of the program's honors project requirement. Students enrolled in the BME Honors program will prepare an honors thesis based on the subject matter of a BME 4900 project from the previous semester, under the supervision of their research mentor.
Laboratory-oriented course designed to teach the concepts and tools of cellular neurophysiology through hands-on experience with extracellular and intracellular electrophysiological techniques, and computer acquisition and analysis of laboratory results. Students explore signal transmission in the nervous system by examining the cellular basis of resting and action potentials, and synaptic transmission and optogenetic control of behavior and physiology. Lecture time is used to review nervous system physiology, introduce laboratory exercises, discuss lab results and primary research papers, and for presentation of additional experimental preparations and methods. Invertebrate preparations are used as model systems.
The Microbial Genomics Hackathon is meant to bring together Cornell students in a weekend of experiential learning around the topic of Microbiomes, Probiotics and Antibiotics. The hackathon will include lectures given by innovators and leaders in genomics, data science and microbiome-based companies. Students will form diverse teams with business students, engineers, and computational biologists, among others, to create solutions, products, or services around the topic. Students will generate solutions to real-world problems, such as stopping the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria and creating self-monitoring microbiome technologies. A major goal of the program is for students to gain exposure to computational genomics and the diversity of problems that these methods can be applied to. Prior to the event, students will be required to complete preparatory reading and reflection and will attend several introductory lectures and brainstorming sessions. These will include skill-building sessions on scientific communication. This will prepare students for effective teamwork and the ability to utilize key genomic resources. Students will be exposed to and utilize computational tools and programming languages such as Python and R. Students will learn about genomics databases and tools (such as BLAST, RAST, NCBI, IMG, PATRIC and KEGG) used across industry and academia. The event will also consist of career building opportunities to hone skills and interface with industry partners. Students will receive feedback from faculty, industry and student mentors and participate in a project showcase where they will present their proposals. After the event, students will synthesize their efforts into a final team report about their product, initiative, service or technique where they will hone their scientific communication through problem statements and business plan development. They will also reflect upon various aspects of the material knowledge gained (improvements in computational proficiency and exposure to microbial genomics and microbiome solutions, communication across disciplines, and market evaluation) and how this can translate into career opportunities. The course will meet weekly until the hackathon, which takes place on a weekend in March (exact dates TBD). More info at http://www.microbiomehack.org.
The student assists in teaching a biomedical engineering course appropriate to their previous training. The student may meet with a discussion or laboratory section, prepare course materials, grade assignments, and regularly discuss objectives and techniques with the faculty member in charge of the course.
Students must attend and report on 10 self-selected seminars to fulfill the requirements of the course.Self-selected seminars may include topics related to bioengineering, engineering and biology or life science. Seminars offered at other universities or at national scientific meetings may be used as long as the topic is relevant.
Preceptorship, is a well-known process in healthcare education and described as a short term relationship between a student as novice and an experienced health care professional, who provides individual attention to the student's learning needs within a clinical environment. The BME 5100 leverages this methodology and enable our students to experience the dynamics of a clinical environment, observe the routine practice of a clinician, identify potential needs, and through a formal process evaluate the merits and provide ideas on how to address these perceived needs. The instructor will educate the students about the clinical environment, dress and behavior code, interaction with hospital staff and patients, as well as monitor and manage each student-preceptor team. The instructor and other engineering faculty will also review the student's experiences and assist in any assignments the preceptor may have given to the student. The preceptor will guide the student with in depth knowledge of the related anatomy, physiology and pathology associated with his specialty. The preceptor will also provide the student the ability to participate and observe as well as generate weekly assignments. The sponsoring institution and the preceptors are very interested in the identified problems, the ideas resultant of the process, and how these ideas could be addressed by applying principles of engineering. The student will provide feedback in the form of a final report as well as an on-site poster presentation at the end of the academic year. The merited ideas will be placed in the pipeline for the sponsored design projects (BME 5910, BME 5920).
This course explores the interface of stem cell biology and bioengineering and biotechnology and will examine the how quantitative modeling and analysis approaches inform stem cell-based biotechnologies and medical therapies. The course will cover embryonic and adult stem cell biology fundamentals, cell and molecular bioengineering concepts and techniques, biomolecular and genetic therapies to regulate stem cell function, and design of biomimetic and bioreactor environments for stem cell differentiation and derivation. These concepts will be conveyed in a mixture of assigned readings; interactive lectures; quantitative, descriptive, and computational problem sets; primary literature discussions and reviews; quizzes; and a small-team final grant proposal project.
The human microbiome impacts human health in a multitude of ways. To achieve a specific health outcome, we can modify the compositions of the microbiome, the molecules microbes produce, how they interact or how our body interacts with them. Yet, our current toolbox is fairly limited. In this course, we will examine current methods for intervening in the microbiome but focus primarily on cutting-edge technologies for microbiome-related therapeutics. This will include synthetic biology and genetic engineering approaches. Topics will include probiotics, antibiotics, drug discovery, live bacterial therapeutics, biosensors, phage therapies, bacterial evolution and engineering immune responses. We will touch on the safety implications of using different biological technologies. This course is designed for Masters-level students and advanced undergraduate students. There will be a computational component to this course, although no prior computational experience is required. Students will learn generalizable skills such as how to navigate the server, distinguish between the formats of genomics files, and employ command-line tools used in common genomic pipelines.
This course teaches the fundamentals and applications of medical imaging techniques, including x-ray imaging and computed tomography, ultrasound imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, and nuclear medicine. Through lectures, programming problem sets and lab tours, the class provides a rigorous introduction to medical imaging, beginning with the basic physical principles of image formation and then onto image reconstruction and descriptions of the hardware used in clinical applications. Concepts covered include resolution, point-spread-functions, modulation transfer functions, signal-to-noise ratio, Fourier transform, and image filtering in spatial domain.
Laboratory-oriented course designed to teach the concepts and tools of cellular neurophysiology through hands-on experience with extracellular and intracellular electrophysiological techniques, and computer acquisition and analysis of laboratory results. Students explore signal transmission in the nervous system by examining the cellular basis of resting and action potentials, and synaptic transmission. Lecture time is used to review nervous system physiology, introduce laboratory exercises, discuss lab results and primary research papers, and for presentation of additional experimental preparations and methods. Invertebrate preparations are used as model systems. Students must complete and additional semester-long project. The project includes exploration of experimental neuroscience questions not covered in the undergraduate laboratory class, novel, low cost instrumentation design, computational approaches to nervous system function and development of active learning activities. It will require a project proposal early in the semester, and a final project presentation and research journal style paper at the end of the semester.
This class provides students with the basic skills needed to design and fabricate biomedical and bioanalytical instrumentation. Lectures cover analog and digital electronics, microcontrollers, microcontroller interfacing and firmware programming (in C). Circuit simulation (using CircuitLab) is covered as is an instruction to schematic capture and printed circuit board layout software (Eagle). Emphasis is on designing and building analog circuitry for sensors, analog to digital conversion and microcontroller/device and microcontroller/PC interfacing. Lab exercises involve the design and construction of a number of biomedically related circuits. This course serves as an introduction to the skills needed by biomedical engineers who chose to focus on instrument design and imaging.
This course analyzes how mechanical forces affect biological responses across biological scales, including molecular, cellular, tissue, organ, and organism level. Theoretical and empirical foundations and engineering approaches to applying, quantifying, and elucidating mechanobiological mechanisms across each scale will be presented. Applications in human health and disease pathogenesis will be emphasized.
This course was designed to addresses the business, regulatory, and technical challenges throughout the many design phases of a biomedical technology product life cycle. It is a required and essential course for the BME Masters of Engineering program and it lays the foundation to the also required BME 5910 (Design Project) and BME 5920 (Performance of Design Project).
This course is designed to provide a working knowledge of Medical Device Regulatory Affairs specifically for Biomedical Engineers. It is geared for both experienced biomedical engineering professionals as well as those new to the industry and is intended for non-regulatory professionals who need a better understanding of the regulatory requirements necessary to bring medical devices to market. This course demonstrates important regulatory requirements and concepts using case study discussions of real products from a variety of clinical specialties. Strategies for using regulation as a competitive advantage will also be discussed. Instructor will be lecturing virtually (on-line) but in real-time.
This course introduces students to fundamental modeling techniques for analyzing and optimizing medical devices within biomedical engineering. Emphasizing Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), the curriculum explores mathematical modeling, simulation, and systems dynamics using tools like MATLAB and Simulink. Students will engage in practical exercises to model physiological systems, microfluidic devices, and cardiovascular systems, focusing on steady-state and dynamic analysis. Applications include mock circulatory loops, organ-on-a-chip platforms, and control systems in medical devices. The course is designed to equip students with essential skills for developing predictive models, validating device functionality, and supporting regulatory submissions. Suitable for both engineering majors and non-majors seeking to understand the principles of biomedical systems modeling. Additionally, strategies based on Artificial Intelligence will be discussed, such as the use of machine learning algorithms for automatic parameter adjustment, failure detection, and improvement of predictive models within the model-in-the-loop (MIL) environment, expanding the capacity for simulation and decision support. The course is uniquely positioned within the curriculum to address gaps between biomedical modeling theory and real-world device development practices. It does not overlap with existing modeling or simulation courses and instead focuses on regulatory-aligned, systems-based development processes using tools like Simulink and MBSE.
Medical technology innovation is one of today’s most exciting—and challenging—fields. Society demands breakthroughs that are faster, better, and more affordable, while the industry navigates complex regulations, diverse stakeholders, and rigorous quality standards. Success requires mastering the balance of quality, speed, cost, and value—where value means delivering better clinical outcomes and patient experiences at lower cost. In this course, you’ll discover how computerized systems play a critical role throughout the medical technology product life cycle. You’ll gain both the theory and hands-on skills behind Automated Test and Measurement Systems—and see how they are applied from ideation to production. This course is part of the Cornell BME MEng specialization in Medical Technology Quality and Systems, preparing you to lead the next wave of innovation. This course requires a comprehensive understanding of the medical technology product development life cycle, including the Biodesign framework, Agile methodologies, FDA regulations, ISO standards, and quality system management principles specific to medical technology.
This course introduces the principles and applications of digital control systems in biomedical engineering. Students learn how to model, simulate, and design feedback controllers for physiological and electromechanical systems using MATLAB and Simulink. The curriculum bridges continuous and discrete-time control concepts, emphasizing stability, response optimization, and implementation in digital environments. Topics include sampling, discretization, state-space representation, and adaptive strategies for real-time control of medical and biotechnological systems. The course also explores emerging approaches using Agentic Artificial Intelligence (IA Agêntica) for autonomous and adaptive feedback in medical devices. Designed for graduate and advanced undergraduate students, it equips learners with practical skills for simulation, analysis, and innovation in intelligent biomedical technologies. Course requires: Basic understanding of linear systems, differential equations, and MATLAB is recommended. Familiarity with control concepts such as transfer functions and feedback stability will be helpful.
The behaviors of cells are increasing appreciated to be governed by a system of regulatory pathways, which processes information often in a multivariate, dynamic and non-linear fashion. The ability to reduce this complexity to predictable models is useful for designing new cancer therapies and genetically engineering cellular "machines". The course will cover: (1) analysis of dynamic control processes in cell biology, from intracellular pathways to networks to multicellular systems; (2) principles of computational systems biology, including genomic, proteomic, and transcriptomic algorithms; and (3) principles of synthetic biology, including gene circuit design and modeling. Students will learn to solve problems using computationally implemented algorithms and models, involving statistical methods, differential equation systems, multivariate regression, and logic-based approaches. This course is designed for masters students in the biomedical, biological and/or engineering sciences and offers advanced translational topics in addition to those presented in BME 3110.
This course will examine the wide variety of mineralized materials made by biological organisms including mollusk shells, sea urchins, mammalian bone and teeth, siliaceous sponges and diatoms, and magnetotactic bacteria. The focus will be on the molecular and biological mechanisms that lead to the formation of these materials as well as their unique mechanical, optical and optical properties.
The course will be devoted to understanding, implementing, and using basic Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) tools for students desiring a one-semester exposure to this subject in the context of BME applications. Both supervised and unsupervised problems will be considered. Both image and time series problems will be considered. The algorithms will be implemented for training, validation, and testing, often from open-source components, primarily in Python, NumPy, and PyTorch software. There are no prerequisites but some experience with linear algebra, probability, and Python is expected.
This course will teach the fundamental theories, collection methods, and analyses of modern materials characterization techniques, with the aim of examining the macro, micro, and surface composition and structure of various classes of materials. There is no one perfect tool that will provide all the information a researcher might wish to know about their sample; in this class, learn to select the appropriate analytical technique given the research goals and the tool’s limitations. While it is not the goal of this course to train students as hands on users of particular instruments, students will have the opportunity to interact with several pieces of equipment and analyze data/images from many more. Examples of techniques to be covered include: diffraction, microscopies, spectroscopies, thermal analyses, etc. This course will focus solid state materials with limited application to biological and liquid materials.
The objectives of this class are to introduce basic concepts, update the latest developments, identify critical bottlenecks, analyze complex problems, and demonstrate effective solutions relating to biomaterials and drug delivery in the immune system. The course will begin by introducing modern biomaterials and drug delivery systems. Then, basic concepts in immunology will be covered. Finally, several applications will be illustrated about how immunology impacts the design of next-generation biomaterials and drug delivery systems and how biomaterials and drug delivery systems impact the development of immunotherapies, vaccines and implants.
This course surveys the evolution of medical implants from inert, passive devices.to active and living structures. Course is open to seniors and graduate students with background knowledge in biomaterials, cell biology and physiology.
Powerful imaging modalities with attending computer image processing methods are evolving for the evaluation of health and the detection of disease. This course focuses on the quantitative analysis of such images and Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD), i.e., the automatic identification and classification of abnormalities by the computer.
Introduces concepts of biomechanics applied to understanding the material behavior of soft tissues. Topics include finite strain, nonlinearities, constitutive frameworks, and experimental methodologies. Tissues to be modeled include tendons, blood vessels, heart valves, cartilage, and engineered tissues.
This course will provide an in-depth look at the underlying mechanistic principles that govern cellular adhesion and interaction on biomaterial surfaces. We will discuss novel engineering strategies used to create biomimetic materials for desired cellular interactions. The course will heavily incorporate readings from primary scientific literature.
Covers fundamental biological principles and engineering concepts underlying the field of tissue engineering and describes specific strategies to engineer tissues for clinical use along with examples.
Design and economic evaluation of a biomedical engineering device or therapeutic strategy. Team projects are encouraged.
The first of two required design courses for the biomedical engineering Master of Engineering program. Teams starting a new project will focus on the identification and ideation phases of a design process. The teams will identify and/or verify unmet healthcare need(s), roughly explore potential concepts, devise the requirements of the technology to be engineered, and implement the first interaction of a conceptual prototype.
Once a proposal for the project has been approved by the Sponsor or Faculty member, the student must (deliver on time and under budget) produce a tangible work product. Scheduling activities, ordering supplies, assembling, testing the device or procedure, and documenting the work and outcomes are the key expectation for the project.
This course is the execution phase of your design project. From BME 5500 and BME 5911 your team should have applied Yock's Biodesign process and devised the product requirements of the solution to be engineered during this semester. The objective of the course is the engineering of a fully functional proof-of-concept prototype (product) based on the previously defined and proposed set of requirements.
Graduate-level, non-thesis research or studies on special projects in biomedical engineering.
Off-campus internship with industry in which a student gains knowledge and experience in the field of biomedical engineering.
Study of topics in biomedical engineering that are more specialized or different from other courses. Special topics depend on staff and student interests.
This course explores the interface of stem cell biology and bioengineering and biotechnology and will examine the how quantitative modeling and analysis approaches inform stem cell-based biotechnologies and medical therapies. The course will cover embryonic and adult stem cell biology fundamentals, cell and molecular bioengineering concepts and techniques, biomolecular and genetic therapies to regulate stem cell function, and design of biomimetic and bioreactor environments for stem cell differentiation and derivation. These concepts will be conveyed in a mixture of assigned readings; interactive lectures; quantitative, descriptive, and computational problem sets; primary literature discussions and reviews; quizzes; and a small-team final grant proposal project.
Genomic medicine is gaining momentum across the entire clinical continuum. This course will provide an introduction to the latest advances in genome research and their impact on medicine. This graduate level course focuses on quantitative engineering principles and precision measurements.The course has a modular structure and tackles a broad range of topics. Course modules will start with a discussion of molecular principles and basic concepts relevant to the module topic, will then proceed with a discussion of contemporary examples and applications, supported by a discussion of recent literature, and will incorporate discussion of relevant computational biology concepts. Topics will include:i) Foundational principles of precision medicine, with an introduction to the human genome, a discussion of modern DNA and RNA sequencing technologies, and basic principles of genome analyses;ii) A survey of cancer genomes, and an introduction to precision measurements of the genetic diversity within tumors;iii) Principles of precision diagnostics, a discussion of omics-enabled prenatal testing, organ transplant monitoring and cancer diagnostics. An in-depth discussion of the structure, function and diversity of the circulating genome.iv) Overview of the impact of genomics on Infectious disease. Measurements of viral sequence diversity and the implications for antiviral therapy. Discussion of the concept of viral quasi-species. Brief introduction to the human microbiome, with a focus on measurement principles;v) Gene expression in human tissues. Discussion of recent advances in single-cell genomics, with a focus on technologies and applications;vi) Principles of immune repertoire sequencing;vii) Omics-enabled analyses of the epigenome and the three dimensional structure of the genome.
The human microbiome touches upon every organ system and contributes to a wide range of disorders. Manipulating the human microbiome is becoming a new paradigm of treating disease. These efforts range from modifying the genomes of organisms or the composition of organisms in the gut, developing designer phage or personalized cocktails of organisms, engineering live bacterial biosensors, and bioprospecting within the gut microbiome for bioactive compounds. In this course, we will discuss new engineering tools and techniques for achieving new diagnostic or therapeutic outcomes. The course will be heavily based on reviewing recently published primary articles. Discussions will involve topics related to molecular and tissue engineering, and systems and synthetic biology.
Application of engineering design principles to problems in drug formulation and delivery. Specific topics include traditional drug formulation, mechanisms and kinetics of pharmaceutical stability, stimuli-sensitive systems, controlled-release devices, prodrugs, targeted drug delivery, transdermal drug delivery, biomaterials, and gene therapy.
Cancer and immunology had been investigated separately for a long time. Recently, they have become connected to each other as we appreciated the roles of immunity in cancer formation, progression, and treatment. As cancer immunotherapies are emerging, understanding of cancer and immunity in deeper manners as a separate topic is required, but also, the abilities to combine both topics in physiologically relevant contexts and relevant knowledge in bioengineering approaches (biomaterials, drug delivery systems, tissue engineering) are needed to be able to solve the multifactorial disease. In this course, we will discuss the topics in Cancer Engineering (module 1); Immune Engineering (module 2); and Cancer Immunotherapy (module 3). In each module, critical biological concepts will be discussed, followed by engineering perspectives, and updated case studies from experts in the cancer and immune-engineering field.
BME 6260 covers the fundamental optics, photophysics, spectroscopy and instrumentation required for understanding how to apply all modes of modern fluorescence microscopy, bioanalytical methods and single molecule fluorescence techniques for biomedical research and diagnostics. Material covered includes:(1) Theory and practical application of lenses, mirrors, dispersive elements, light sources, optical fibers, detectors, interference, nonlinear optical concepts and tissue optics.(2) Optical systems analysis concepts such as resolution, optical transfer functions, Fourier optics and convolution.(3) Photophysical analysis, such as photochemistry and photon statistics. (4) Both a lecture based and lab module based survey of the types of light microscopy and fluoresce methodologies used in modern biomedical research. The lab modules provide the students with hands-on experience with all forms of light microscopy now used in biological and biomedical research.
Current trends in the development of novel techniques for imaging cells and tissues. This course will emphasize both fundamentals as well as emerging applications to discovery-based biological studies or clinical disease diagnosis/management.
Light is an ideal way to interrogate physiology because it is relatively non-invasive yet versatile. This course will cover optical methods used in the study of cells and in vivo animal imaging including twophoton microscopy, super-resolution microscopy, optogenetics, the use of indicators and labels, calcium and voltage-sensitive indicator imaging, and bioluminescence. These methods will be studied from an optical, technical perspective as well as in the context of biology and physiology studies. Students are expected to have a basic understanding of imaging as well as physiology. Some experience with Matlab or any programming language will be helpful.
This one-semester course will focus on emerging applications of machine learning for biomedical discovery, design, and experimentation. Here we will examine how modern AI methods are being integrated into scientific workflows to accelerate biomaterials research, therapeutic development, and biomedical engineering. Topics will include surrogate modeling, Bayesian optimization, active learning, molecular embeddings, graph neural networks, materials informatics, protein language models, digital twins, and closed-loop experimentation. Students will learn how machine learning can be used to guide experiments, model complex biological systems, identify promising candidate materials and therapeutics, and enable autonomous or semi-autonomous discovery pipelines. Course materials will be implemented in Python using commonly used scientific computing and machine learning packages, as well as publicly available biomedical and materials datasets. Students are expected to have prior exposure to statistics, basic machine learning architectures, and Python programming.
This course provides a survey of the latest technologies for recording and controlling brain activity. The class consists of lectures to introduce the relevant concepts in neurobiology, then discuss approaches to read out neural signals, such as large-scale electrophysiology and optical imaging, followed by methods to modify neural dynamics, including electrical, optical, and viral strategies. Emphases will be placed on how the technologies may be integrated into brain machine interfaces, and what promise they have for treating brain disorders. The course assumes no background in neuroscience. It is intended for engineers who want to know more about neural engineering and neurobiologists who are interested in the latest methods.
Mechanobiology describes how cells and tissues sense and respond to their physical environment. Examples range from muscle cells growing in response to exercise, bones adapting to mechanical load, mechanical forces modulating immune cell function, and tissue stiffness promoting the risk of cancer. This course will introduce examples of mechanobiology in physiology and disease, explain the cell and molecular components involved in mechanosensing and the cell/tissue response to mechanical stimuli, highlight experimental tools and approaches to study mechanobiology at the cell, molecular, and tissue level, analyze representative data of mechanobiology experiments, and discuss current limitations and engineering challenges to advance to field.
Biomedical engineering can address urgent, long-neglected challenges in women’s health, but effective design requires deliberate consideration of female-specific tissue mechanics and physiology. Failure to account for female health in engineering limits innovation and has contributed to product failures, including pelvic organ prolapse mesh devices, vaginal rings, hip implants, and cardiovascular stents. This course will (i) define female-specific mechanical and physiological considerations for effective engineering design, (ii) examine historical and contemporary examples of both successful and flawed engineering in women’s health, and (iii) identify current limitations, knowledge gaps, and open engineering challenges in the field. The central role of mechanics in tissue function and disease will be emphasized throughout the course. Lectures will present foundational material for students from diverse academic backgrounds and include interactive discussion of readings, problem sets, and engineering case studies. Term projects will provide students an opportunity to design healthcare solutions (undergraduate students) or research proposals (graduate students) that address critical gaps in women’s health.
This course is in two modules. The first module (1 credit) identifies fundamental biophysical mechanisms and systems engineering of early embryonic development (cleavage, gastrulation) and axis patterning. The second module (2 credits) extends these fundamentals to fetal maturation of several major organ systems, including lung, heart, vascular, and bone from an engineer's perspective (evolutionary conservation, major signaling pathways involved, etc). We further identify relationships between developmental biology and postnatal diseases, as well as explore developmental biology-based approaches for regenerative medicine (directed stem cell differentiation, mechanical conditioning, matrix based differentiation, etc.). Material is drawn largely from primary literature. Students have regular manuscript reviews, two midterms, and a final project analyzing the natural engineering of a different organ system.
Covers introductory concepts in tissue engineering, including polymeric biomaterials used for scaffolds, mechanisms of cellbiomaterial interaction, biocompatibility and foreign body response, cell engineering, and tissue biomechanics. This knowledge is applied to engineering of several bodysystems, including the musculoskeletal system, cardiovascular tissues, the nervous system, and artificial organs. These topics are discussed in the context of scale-up, manufacturing, and regulatory issues.
Introduction to clinical and biological aspects of cancer, organized primarily for a physical science and engineering audience that is interested in the topic but not necessarily steeped in biological training. Stress on description of current understanding and current clinical practice but not the history and process that has led to that understanding. In addition to the biological and medical aspects of cancer, engineering/chemistry/physics aspects of the process e.g., transport, reaction rates, tumor growth models will be discussed at a quantitative level when relevant to system-level understanding of cancer. Topics: Nature and hallmarks of cancer. Introductory human cell biology and modes of dysregulation by carcinogenesis. Cell cycle, aberrant mitogens, dysregulation of checkpoints. Framework and notation for describing reaction networks. Genetic foundations of cancer phenotype--germline and somatic. Tumorigenesis and metastasis. Clinical staging and medical management of the most common human cancers, including breast, prostate, lung, pancreas, colon, leukemia, lymphoma. Information on the course is summarized at blogs.cornell.edu/cancerforengineers.
This one semester course will be focused on exposing students to basic strategies in machine learning using neural networks within the context of biomedical engineering. This includes early uses (classical fitting), and basic to concepts such as loss functions, models, backpropagation and training, as well as current layer (dense, convolutional networks and x-formers), and model architectures (e.g. autoencoders, U-Nets, adversarial networks, and large language models) and how these are applied towards current biomedical engineering tasks (medical image recognition, bioinformatics, etc.). This will be geared towards students who are interested in learning to design, code and understand common neural network strategies. Course materials will be primarily implemented in Python, using common packages, such as NumPy, SciPy, Pandas, and TensorFlow, in addition to open-source databases. Students are expected to have a basic familiarity with python programming and some experience with applying statistical methods.
Off-campus internship with industry in which a student gains knowledge and experience in the field of biomedical engineering.
An ongoing orientation and mentoring seminar for first-year Ph.D. students that includes research presentations by faculty and students as well as discussions and assignments on such topics as academic ethics, writing technical papers, and publishing.
Designed to train biomedical engineering graduate students in presentation of scientific data. Students in their third year and beyond are required to give an annual seminar on their research; all students are required to attend the seminars and to provide constructive feedback to others on the quality of their presentation and data.
Guided individual experience in laboratory instruction and/or lectures/recitation instruction. Provides a preparatory teaching experience for graduate students considering an academic career.
This is a core graduate-level course designed to develop essential presentation, writing, research, and teaching skills through hands-on experiences in lecture preparation, implementation of innovative teaching techniques, and oral/written science communication. Student-led lectures and journals clubs will survey widely used and emerging methods in biomedical research and clinical diagnostics. Each lecture will highlight how research methodologies could be applied in future research projects and will provide students with background on clinical methods they may observe during their clinical immersion term. Discussion sections will provide additional preparatory sessions for the BME summer immersion program, give opportunities for collaborative working sessions with peers, and allow for further scientific communication skill development.
Summer immersion at Weill Medical College. Students participate in lectures, rounds, and seminars; observe surgeries; and solve medical problems presented by the staff.
This course introduces graduate students to current research topics and professional development in biomedical engineering. Students are expected to attend weekly seminars, actively engage with speakers, and complete written reports.
Source: Cornell University's catalog, linked per course · table learning_unit · CourseShelf publish 61
