Improving Human Health Through Innovation

Whether it’s developing new technologies or pioneering new areas, Duke Biomedical Engineering is a leading force driving the discoveries and innovations that help clinicians save lives.

Explore our strategic vision

Biomedical Innovation

Duke launched the nation’s first accredited biomedical engineering program in 1971. Today, we’re pursuing transformational collaborations with the same audacious ambition.

Genomic Technologies

Duke has assembled a team of world-leading engineers, scientists and physicians to integrate a range of genome editing and epigenomic profiling technologies to unravel disease biology and discover new drug targets.

Visionary Health Care

Duke’s legacy in medical imaging and photonics research includes the invention of real-time and 3D ultrasound as well as critical improvements to OCT. Today, our faculty continue this tradition in these modalities as well as MRI, X-ray, nuclear medicine-based imaging and photoacoustic tomography.

Neuroengineering

Duke BME researchers are leading a wide range of projects focused on neural health, such as designing and testing next-generation brain-computer interfaces, building new deep brain and nerve stimulation therapies, and creating high-resolution, complex augmented reality software that helps researchers and neurosurgeons visualize and plan their complex work.

Transformational Centers

From harnessing supercomputers to create patient-specific digital twins to engineering the microbial communities we interact with every day, Duke Engineering is home to interdisciplinary centers poised to make real-world impacts.

At the Center for Computational and Digital Health Innovation, we're revolutionizing how we find, track, and treat human disease.

microscope image of muscle from Gersbach lab

Center for Advanced Genomic Technologies

Leaders in developing and applying genomic technologies

researchers in the Segura lab at Duke BME

Center for Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering (CBTE)

Multidisciplinary research in tissue, cellular, and protein engineering.

Two women work side-by-side in a laboratory

Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies (GWHT)

Improving women’s cancer diagnosis, prevention, and treatment worldwide.

Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics

Training commercial, technical, and academic leaders of next-generation broadband technologies.

Artistic illustration of fruit inside a cell

Center for Quantitiative Biodesign

Research excellence and scholarship at the nexus of quantitative biology, synthetic biology, and machine learning.

Center for Computation & Digital Health Innovation

Harnessing wearable sensors, high performance computing, and extended reality to find, track, and treat health conditiosn in real-time.

Training Tomorrow’s Biomedical Leaders

Our undergraduate and graduate programs in biomedical engineering have a long history of high rankings. Upholding a modern Hippocratic ethos, our students learn within a robust ethical framework. They develop listening, communication, and empathy skills to ensure that every innovation serves individuals and communities equitably.

Explore Biomedical Engineering

Master’s Education and Design

Duke’s industry-leading programs in medical technology design put students in the hands of faculty with decades of real-world experience. The result is graduates ready to make an impact in Fortune 500 companies from their very first day on the job.

A Biomedical Pipeline

Since 2006, Duke’s collaboration with the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation has accelerated bioengineering breakthroughs, turning $15 million in grants into $1.24 billion in follow-on funding and launching 17 companies that bring life-changing therapies to market.

Undergraduate Excellence

As the first accredited undergraduate program in biomedical engineering, we continue to innovate and set the standard. With immersive first-year courses, an emphasis on design, and opportunities to work directly with clinicians and entrepreneurs, a Duke BME undergraduate degree can take you anywhere.

Fluorescence image of a whole-mounted retina with five lobes radiating from the optic nerve head. Blood vessels are labeled in red, creating an extensive branching vascular network, while scattered green fluorescent cells are concentrated near the center with a few peripheral signals.

6/30 Pratt School of Engineering

Lab-Grown Retinal Cells Show Promise for New Eye Therapies

Critical cells that line retinal blood vessels grown from stem cells restore retinal function in mouse models and form retinal tissue in a lab for future disease studies.

Priorities in Action

All news

Upcoming Events

All events

Jul 27

Last day to withdraw with W from Term 2 classes (undergraduates only)

Jul 27

2026 Gene Golub SIAM Summer School on Fault-Tolerant Algorithms in Quantum Computing

Quantum computing stands at the forefront of scientific innovation, captivating broad interest as a dynamically evolving field. Recent years have witnessed remarkable progress in developing and analyzing quantum algorithms for […]

Gross Hall 103

Aug 7

Summer Term 2 classes end

Explore our Programs

A Duke Engineering education leads to lives of purpose and integrity that are as rewarding as they are impactful. Explore our supportive and inclusive community that defines excellence in engineering.