About The Fischell Department of Bioengineering

Welcome to Bioengineering at the University of Maryland

The Fischell Department of Bioengineering offers undergraduate and graduate educational programs leading to B.S. and Ph.D. degrees.

We have charted a course that best serves Maryland and the region, and that we envision will positively influence the landscape of bioengineering nationwide. Our program centers on the cell, subcellular systems, and systems of cells. We integrate engineering and the life sciences in building a quantitative systems approach for the development of tools and techniques that will serve the molecular underpinnings of health care envisioned for the next generation.

Assistant Professor Adam Hsieh (back left), director of the Orthopedic Mechanobiology Lab, works with graduate student Anshu Rastogi (back center) and lab research technician David Ryan (front). Established in May 2005, the Lab's primary goal is to understand how mechanical stress in musculoskeletal tissues modulates biological response, with a particular focus on intervertebral discs (IVDs), the soft tissue structures in the spine.

The A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park is located in a metropolitan area rich with health care facilities, medical schools, and biomedical research centers, including the medical school at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR), the medical schools at Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, George Washington, and Howard University, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Red Cross, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Our faculty members enjoy strong collaborations with researchers at these institutions and engineering graduate students often work side-by-side with researchers from these institutions.

	Undergraduate and graduate students work on applications of polymer science in the lab of Professor Peter Kofinas. Kofinas is developing molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) that can be used to identify and remove viruses that affect people, animals, and plants.

In addition to these academic and government laboratories in the Washington, D.C. area, the biotechnology industry in the State of Maryland has grown into the third largest in the nation, creating an increased demand for bioengineers. While this growth has primarily been in the biopharmaceuticals sector, the state has emerged as a leader in the genomic, proteomic and bioinformatics area as noted by companies such as Human Genome Sciences Inc., Celera, Inc., and The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). Biotechnology companies in Maryland continue to be a source of internships and employment for our students; one that will surely increase with time. With our enviable location, renowned engineering school, the University of Maryland, College Park is poised to become a leader in bioengineering education and research.