Medical Engineering

The Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering at Caltech focuses on the applications of micro-/nanoscale engineering sciences and technologies to the design, analysis, and implementation of diagnostic, therapeutic, and monitoring devices for translational medicine.

• Affordable Medical Devices and Technologies (Burdick, Gao, Gharib, Hajimiri, Ismagilov, Scherer) Chairs for children with cerebral palsy, bed-sore mitigation, toxic material filters, saliva-based diabetes tests, handheld diagnostic devices, and remote medical tracking systems. Devices that provide freedom from disability.
• Artificial Intelligence (Anandkumar, Bouman) Generative AI, deep neural network, instrument-AI codesign.
• Biomaterials (Gao, Greer, Ismagilov, Shapiro, Tai, Zhang) Biocompatible medical materials, nanoscale-engineered smart materials, device-tissue interface, and cell-material interactions.
• Biomechanics & Bio-Inspired Design (Burdick, Colonius, Gao, Greer, Gharib, Shapiro, Zhang) Bio-inspired self-propulsion technologies, control systems, optimization techniques, shape morphing, cardiovascular mechanics, biomolecular nanomechanics, and muscle and membrane mechanics.
• Biomolecular, Cellular and Gene Therapies (Shapiro, Gradinaru) Immunotherapy, viral vectors, probiotics, regenerative medicine, targeted molecular therapies, and therapeutic gene circuits.
• Medical Diagnostic, Monitoring, and Therapeutic Implants (Emami, Gao, Scherer, Tai, Zhang) Microscale implants with new functionalities to interface intact tissues and/or to replace defective functions: retinal implants, spinal cord implants, ECG implants, cardiovascular implants, implantable pressure sensors, glucose sensors, drug delivery pumps, and implantable bio-analyte sensors.
• Medical Diagnostic and Monitoring On-Chip Devices (Emami, Hajimiri, Ismagilov, Scherer) Magnetic spectroscopy, bioassay, and drug-screening platforms, micro-PCR and sequencer, and on-chip bio-sensors.
• Medical Imaging and Sensing (Bouman, Colonius, Emami, Faraon, Gao, Gharib, Hajimiri, Scherer, Shapiro, Wang) Medical photonics and sensors, advanced imaging technologies, micro flow-field imaging, computational image analysis, lensless microscopy-on-a-chip, diagnostic and therapeutic ultrasound, and shock waves, single-molecule detection and diagnostics, machine-learning enabled automated pathology analysis, magnetic spectroscopy, tera-hertz imaging, Raman spectroscopy, photoacoustic tomography, thermoacoustic tomography, optical time reversal (wavefront shaping/engineering), compressed ultrafast photography, holographic microscopy, non-invasive label-free biomedical imaging and magnetic resonance imaging, wearable biosensors.
• Medical Nanoelectronics (Emami, Hajimiri, Zhang) Integrated nanoelectronics and circuits for medical applications, extremely low power medical electronics and sensors, high bandwidth wireless communication devices, self-healing circuits and systems, on-chip tera-hertz sources, and systems-on-a-chip.
• Micro/Nano Medical Technologies and Devices (Burdick, Emami, Faraon, Gao, Gharib, Greer, Hajimiri, Ismagilov, Scherer, Shapiro, Tai, Wang, Zhang) Biochips, bio-MEMS/NEMS, micro-/nano-fabrication, holographic microscopy, and photoacoustic microscopy for medical applications.
• Molecular and Cellular Imaging and Theranostics (Shapiro, Wang) Contrast agents, reporter genes, biosensors, cell-based diagnostics, theranostics.
• Nano & Micro Fluidics (Gao, Gharib, Ismagilov) Micro-/nano-fluidics, drug delivery, and physiological machines.
• Prosthetics (Burdick, Emami, Tai, Zhang) Neural prosthetics and direct brain-machine interfaces, human prosthetics for paralysis, pure-thought-based control of external electromechanical devices, computer-decoding algorithms for direct brain interface, and robotic fingers.
• Quantum Imaging and Physics (Wang) Quantum entanglement, quantum (sub-shot noise and super-resolution) imaging, and atomic physics.
• Wireless Medical Technologies (Emami, Hajimiri, Gharib, Scherer, Shapiro, Tai) Wireless communications through skins and tissues for medical electronic implants, electrograms, wireless power transfer, and biotic/abiotic interfaces.