Overview >> Academics
The Bioengineering Graduate Program at UCSD is continuing to build on its well-established tradition of interdisciplinary scholarship, while promoting new areas of graduate research and education. We are developing a research and education program based on the overall theme of Integrative Bioengineering. This includes the integration of research activities at all levels of biomedical engineering design from genes and molecules to the whole organism, interaction between engineering and biomedical sciences, coordination of research and education, partnerships between UCSD with its neighboring institutions, and collaboration with industry and clinical medicine for effective technology transfer. Three new thrust areas represent different levels of biological hierarchy, each with a specific focus. In each focus area, a coordinated program is being implemented that combines experimentation and theoretical modeling, so that the information generated from experimental investigations can be integrated and synthesized by the application of engineering concepts and techniques:

• Molecular Engineering: The focus is Molecular Biomechanics.
• Cell/Tissue Engineering: The focus is Cell-Matrix Engineering. ·
• Organ Systems Bioengineering: The focus areas are Bioinformatics and System Engineering approaches to Cardiovascular Functional Genomics.

The choice of these areas was based on our existing strengths, the potential for development, and the relevance of the field to important medical problems.