Your Kitchen Sponge Teems With Bacteria – Should You Use a Brush Instead?
Lingchong You’s 2022 study is cited as one of the main reasons a kitchen sponge is so good at harboring a wide diversity and large density of bacteria.
Biomedical Engineering
Revolutionizing Clinical Impact
Recognizing unmet needs in health care and opportunities to build on our strengths, Duke launched the nation’s first BME department in 1971. We’ve never looked back. With a growing number of programs devoted to placing engineering students alongside clinicians at Duke University Medical Center (just meters from the engineering campus), Duke BME is discovering and addressing unmet medical needs and developing new technologies to help save lives.
Globally Minded
Duke BME’s efforts to serve society extend far beyond Durham or even the United States. Our faculty and students keep a vigilant eye toward designing solutions that work with and for communities in resource-limited settings around the world.
Duke BME
is at the forefront of emerging technologies like using CRISPR to regulate genes, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, and a slew of imaging revolutions from ultrasound to photoacoustic tomography.
BME Faculty
Gaurav Arya
Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Sonia Bansal
Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Abdul Ibriham Barakt
Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Matthew L Becker
Hugo L. Blomquist Distinguished Professor of Chemistry
Elizabeth K Bucholz
BME Director of Undergraduate Studies, Claude B. Williams and David M. Hesse Associate Professor of the Practice
Dr Pranam Chatterjee, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Jen-Tsan Ashley Chi
Professor in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
Ashutosh Chilkoti, Ph.D.
Alan L. Kaganov Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Joel Collier
Associate Dean for Doctoral Education, Theodore Kennedy Professor of BME
Leslie M Collins, Ph.D.
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Brian T Crouch
Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Lawrence Anthony David
Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
Louis Edwin DeFrate
Laszlo Ormandy Distinguished Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
Sonal Deshpande
Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Al-Hafeez Z Dhalla
Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Kafui Dzirasa
A. Eugene and Marie Washington Presidential Distinguished Professor
Sina Farsiu, Ph.D.
Director of Master’s Studies, Anderson-Rupp Professor of BME
Paul J Fearis
Associate Director of Master’s Studies, Associate Professor of the Practice in the Department of BME
Ken Gall
Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Sharon Gerecht
Chair of Biomedical Engineering, Paul M. Gross Distinguished Professor
Charlie Gersbach
John W. Strohbehn Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Claudia Gunsch, Ph.D.
Muriel Theodorsen Williams E’46 Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Dr Brent Hoffman, Ph.D.
James L. and Elizabeth M. Vincent Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Dr Roarke Horstmeyer
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Prof Tony Jun Huang
William Bevan Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
G. Allan Johnson
Charles E. Putman University Distinguished Professor of Radiology
David Katz, Ph.D.
Nello L. Teer, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, in the Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. School of Engineering
Cameron M Kim
Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies, Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Department of BME
Joseph A Knight
Executive in Residence in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Aaron M Kyle
Professor of the Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Jason F Luck
Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Dr Mike Lynch, M.D., Ph.D.
W. H. Gardner, Jr. Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Megan Madonna
Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Robert A. Malkin
Professor of the Practice Emeritus in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
James H. McElhaney
Hudson Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering
Dr Cameron McIntyre, Ph.D.
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Cassio Mendes Fontes
Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Samira Musah, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Barry Myers, M.D., Ph.D.
Coulter Program Director, Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Wanda Krassowska Neu
Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering
Kathy Nightingale, Ph.D.
Director of Graduate Studies, Theo Pilkington Distinguished Professor of BME
Mark L. Palmeri
Professor of the Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Nimmi Ramanujam, Ph.D.
Robert W. Carr, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Amanda Randles
Alfred Winborne and Victoria Stover Mordecai Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences
Timothy E Reddy
Associate Professor of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics,
Eric S Richardson
Professor of the Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Michael Rizk
Assistant Professor of the Practice of Biomedical Engineering
Dr Phil Romero, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Michael Rubinstein, Ph.D.
Aleksandar S. Vesic Distinguished Professor
Ann Saterbak
Director, First-Year Design Program, Professor of the Practice in the Department of BME
Christoph F. Schmidt
Hertha Sponer Distinguished Professor of Physics
Stephen William Smith
Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering
Dr Mike Tadross, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Cynthia Ann Toth
Joseph A.C. Wadsworth Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology
Gregg Trahey, Ph.D.
Robert Plonsey Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
George Truskey, Ph.D.
R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Shyni Varghese
Laszlo Ormandy Distinguished Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
Dr Ophelia Venturelli, Ph.D.
Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Tuan Vo-Dinh, Ph.D.
R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Olaf Von Ramm, Ph.D.
Thomas Lord Distinguished Professor of Engineering
Blake Shaw Wilson
Adjunct Professor in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences
Patrick D. Wolf
Associate Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering
Michael Rod Zalutsky
Jonathan Spicehandler, M.D. Distinguished Professor of Neuro Oncology, in the School of Medicine
Stefan Zauscher, Ph.D.
Director of Graduate Studies and Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of MEMS
Pei Zhong, Ph.D.
Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Latest Duke BME News
Chilkoti Receives 2025 Technology Innovation and Development Award
Ashutosh Chilkoti was recognized by the Society for Biomaterials for his pioneering work in protein-resistant polymer coatings and protein biomaterials
Activating Complex Regions of the Genome to Treat Rare Diseases
Researchers find a master epigenetic switch that activates silenced genes to compensate for their missing counterparts in a rare genetic disease called Prader-Willi syndrome