Biomedical Engineering (PhD)

The PhD in Biomedical Engineering program at WPI offers a friendly, innovative, and collaborative environment that encourages an entrepreneurial spirit. You’ll work closely with world-class faculty on cutting-edge research projects that combine engineering studies with many biomedical disciplines.

To support our passionate and innovative grad students, our resources back research in everything from new medical instruments to engineering cell-derived tissue to robotic devices. We make the program flexible and adaptable to your specific interests. The curriculum’s hands-on, boundary-pushing work positions you to lead original breakthrough research to help people live longer, healthier lives.

Graduate Admissions

Curriculum

Driven by relentless curiosity, our renowned faculty advance research every day. You’ll work with them to expand your own research and advisors will help you establish a personalized and solid foundation of studies.

PhD candidates complete two laboratory rotations (to familiarize themselves with different fields, concepts, and techniques) and a teaching requirement in order to pass a PhD qualifying exam. The program’s flexibility means you’ll gain experience by partnering with local industry or focusing your studies to fit your interests, like teaching or investigating a specific problem.

Graduate Catalog

Research

Candidates in the Biomedical Engineering PhD program conduct ambitious self-directed research alongside some of the field’s best-known faculty. Whatever your interest, WPI’s extensive technical and scientific resources elevate your research possibilities.

Recent research:

VitaThread protein-based sutures
Phlebot, a robot for routine blood draws
Development of immune modulating hydrogel that supports neural stem cell survival during an inflammatory response in an injured spinal cord lesion
Building whole-organism neuropsychiatric disease models and high-throughput quantitative methods for identifying novel therapeutics using C. elegans
An engineered microvascular network to enable an eventual cardiac tissue patch
Creating a biomimetic composite scaffold that recapitulates the mechanical and functional properties of native heart muscle to promote regeneration

The biomedical facilities at WPI encourage collaboration with open lab spaces that are organized by research focus, accessible faculty, and a close cohort of fellow researchers. Using state-of-the-art instruments and tools, PhD students take advantage of WPI’s 124,600-square-foot Life Sciences & Bioengineering Center to lead their own research projects.

RESEARCH & FACILITIES

Faculty Profiles

Glenn R. Gaudette

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Professor

Biomedical Engineering

My research aims to develop a treatment for the millions of Americans suffering from myocardial infarction and other cardiovascular diseases. We are focused on regenerating mechanical and electrophysiological function in the heart. Our work has demonstrated the induction of adult cardiac myocytes into the cell cycle. We also have differentiated adult stem cells into cardiac myocytes. In addition, to confirm that the regenerated tissue is mechanically active, our lab has developed a method for accurately measuring regional function at very high spatial resolution in the heart.

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Kristen Billiar

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Department Head & Professor

Biomedical Engineering

Understanding the mechanisms by which mechanical forces regulate the development and healing of connective tissues and the pathogenesis of disease is becoming one of the foremost problems at the intersection of biomechanics and cell biology—it has spawned the field of mechanobiology. In our lab we use precisely engineered, two-dimensional and three-dimensional constructs as model systems to study the effects of external internal (cell-generated) forces on cell behavior, matrix biochemistry, and the biomechanics of soft tissues and biomaterials.

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Marsha Rolle

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Associate Professor

Biomedical Engineering

In my research laboratory at WPI, teams of graduate and undergraduate students collaborate with researchers at WPI and the University of Massachusetts Medical School to design, fabricate, culture and analyze cell-based engineered vascular tissue.

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Raymond L. Page

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Professor of Practice

Biomedical Engineering

For undergraduate instruction, I enjoy relating the fundamentals of individual material properties and biological processes to the engineering of complex systems or processes to produce medically useful products. Coupling engineering principles with the inherent challenges of biological systems to understand and predict system behavior in the context of the capstone design experience is of particular interest.

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Getting Involved

Graduate students enjoy a friendly, fun, and close-knit community at WPI. The active Graduate Student Government plans social events and advocates for grad students. You can participate in on-campus organizations like the WPI chapter of the Biomedical Engineering Society or participate in sports, cultural, or technical clubs.

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Students walking around the fountain in the springtime

After Graduation

Doctoral degree students graduate well prepared to use their training and education in biomedical engineering to launch their careers in academia or to establish themselves as lab leaders with groundbreaking theories, research, and solutions. Graduates often move into academia, head up research divisions for companies, or start their own research labs.

Career Outlook

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Biomedical Engineering Department