Research
Established in 2010, The University of New Mexico Biomedical Engineering program quickly established an active and diverse research program. The program is highly interdisciplinary, with faculty participating from across the School of Engineering, UNM’s School of Medicine and the College of Arts & Sciences, as well as other Universities across New Mexico such as New Mexico Institute of Mining at Technology and New Mexico State University. In addition, our students and faculty have extensive collaborations with Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Faculty
Our faculty are currently organized into three emphasis cores (“tracks”) and one concentration. Because of the interdisciplinarity of our program, our faculty affiliates come from many departments and have research laboratories across multiple UNM campuses. Prospective students who are interested in working with these faculty should contact them directly to inquire about available funding and opportunities in their research labs. Many of our faculty affiliates bridge multiple emphasis cores and concentrations in our program, but have been listed below under the area/concentration in which they most closely align.
Molecular and Cellular Systems
Faculty in this area are studying the intersection of molecular and cellular biology with the disciplines of engineering and mathematics, by providing quantitative approaches to understand how signaling molecules interact with cells. Researchers in this area may be studying synthetic biology, drug discovery/pharmaceutics, viruses/vaccine targeting, imaging and microscopy, etc.
Biomaterials, Biomechanics, and Tissue Engineering
Faculty in this area are studying the interactions of synthetic materials with biological systems, such as the use of bioactive polymers to affect cellular behavior, how synthetic materials can dictate engineered tissues for human use, and how engineered materials can affect human health. Researchers in this area may be working in nanotechnology, microelectromechanical systems, microneedle development, biomanufacturing, materials synthesis and fabrication, etc.
Bioinformatics
Faculty in this area use computer science and biology to develop methods and software tools to analyze complex and often large sets of biological data. Researchers in this area may focus their studies on systems biology, data mining of healthcare records/databases, bioimage informatics, genetics and population analysis, genome and sequence analysis, among other subspecialties. This area also includes data science, computer vision, machine learning, image processing, and computational biology.
Entrepreneurship and Technology Management
Faculty in this program help to instill an entrepreneurial mindset and establish organizational skills in our students to identify problems that can be solved via technological solutions. A student in this program may focus their research on the design, fabrication, and commercialization of a healthcare product, amongst other ideas that merge engineering, business, and technology.
