Faculty
The Biomedical Engineering Program (BME) at ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½ may be relatively young, but its graduates are already making their mark across the country. And for some, that means helping shape the next generation of biomedical engineers. Three recent PhD graduates have traded their roles as students for faculty positions at other universities, where theyβre leading cutting-edge research and carving out academic careers of their own. Their success highlights the growth of the program and its expanding influence beyond campus.
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide, claiming nearly 20 million lives every year. Undergraduate student Anagha Varada spent her summer trying to change that by helping Associate Professor Wei Tan develop a new, multilayered vascular graft that mimics the structure of natural blood vessels, allowing them to regenerate.
New research by engineers from the lab of Alaa Ahmed, BME faculty member at ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½ aims to get to the bottom of why, as the saying goes, you get a βskip in your stepβ when youβre happy.
When the first biomedical engineering class graduated from ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½ in 2023, about a dozen students walked across the stage. Today, that once-small start has evolved into a powerful engine for biomedical innovation and education. But how does a program go from modest beginnings to powerhouse in such a short time?
BME professor Won Park is co-advising a research project building high performing optical microresonators to open the door for new sensor technologies. In the future, the microresonators could be used for compact microlasers, advanced chemical and biological sensors and even tools for quantum metrology and networking.
Researchers, including BME faculty member Wyatt Shields at ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½ have created tiny, microorganism-inspired particles that can change their shape and self-propel, much like living things, in response to electrical fields in hopes these microrobots can deliver medications inside the human body, particularly in areas that are hard for drugs to reach on their own.
Roughly 6.8 million people donate blood in the United States, helping save millions of lives, according to the American Red Cross. But just like groceries sitting on store shelves, red blood cells age over time. That's why BME Associate Professor Xiaoyun Ding and medical collaborators at CU Anschutz have created a chip device to help give blood centers and hospitals a reliable way to monitor the quality of red blood cells after weeks in storage.
Assistant Professor Nicole Xu has been selected as a recipient of the 2025 Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering. The award provides some of the nationβs most promising early career scientists and engineers flexible funding to test novel ideas and lead research that drives real-world impact.
Darwin Quiroz is exploring new frontiers in miniature lasers with major biomedical applications.
Quiroz, a physics PhD student in the lab of BME Professor Juliet Gopinath in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, and also co-advised by Professor Victor Bright from Paul M. Rady in Mechanical Engineering, is co-first author of a new study that demonstrates how a fluid-based optical device known as an electrowetting prism can be used to steer lasers at high speeds for advanced imaging applications.
The project, like something straight out of a health sci-fi movie, combines RNA-based gene therapy with tiny microrobots for drug transport to help treat acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).