Since the 1940s, this department has applied advanced engineering technologies and concepts to biological problems and human diseases in seven research areas: engineering, cardiovascular systems, imaging, systems neuroscience, molecular and cell systems, neuroengineering and computational modeling. The formation of the Whitaker Biomedical Engineering Institute in 1999 and the faculty's close ties with the Center for Hearing and Balance, the Mind/Brain Institute, the Applied Physics Laboratory and the Center for Cardiovascular Bioinformatics and Modeling encourage a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to research. The department has its own Master of Science, doctoral and postdoctoral training programs in biomedical engineering.

Explore the Department of Biomedical Engineering

The researchers in our department address fundamental biological problems at a mechanistic level, using cutting-edge tools including cryo-electron microscopy,  X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR, single molecule studies and computer modeling. Current areas of research include DNA replication and repair, chromatin dynamics, transcriptional regulation, translation, cell division, cell-surface receptors and the innate immune response. Faculty members participate in the Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate Program and the Program in Molecular  Biophysics, as well as several other School of Medicine graduate programs.

Explore the Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry

With its strong emphasis on animal models of human disease and long history of producing leaders in academic and industrial settings, this department is a national leader in research on animal diseases and animal models of human diseases.  Research topics include animal models of AIDS, cancer, neurodegenerative  disease, cardiovascular disease and inflammatory lung disease. Faculty, fellows and residents control disease outbreaks in the institutional animal colonies through the division of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology and provide clinical care of research animals through the Research Animal Resources division. The department’s Retrovirus Laboratory oversees a training grant in pathobiology for pre- and post-doctoral trainees to study the molecular pathogenesis of lentiviral diseases.

Explore the Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology

Building on the department's long, rich history, faculty members merge molecular biology and imaging techniques to focus on cellular form, function and transformation. Departmental scientists study topics including cell motility, division, membrane trafficking, metabolism, and development, with tools like scanning and transmission electron microscopy and scanning confocal, total internal reflection, and lattice light sheet fluorescence microscopy.  Faculty participate in the Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology and the Johns Hopkins University Biology graduate programs.

Explore the Department of Cell Biology

Department members' research projects include gene expression and regulation, the cell cycle, signal transduction, developmental biology, microbial pathogenesis, immunology, DNA transposition, telomeres, RNA catalysis and the molecular biology of vision and olfaction. Many faculty members are Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators. Former faculty members Hamilton Smith and the late Daniel Nathans received the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery and use of site-specific restriction enzymes. Faculty participate in eight School of Medicine graduate programs.  

Explore the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics

Neuroscience faculty focus on many areas of research including: cellular and molecular neuroscience; developmental neuroscience; neural circuits, ensembles and connectomes; systems, cognitive and computational neuroscience; and neurobiology of disease. Many faculty have joint appointments in other departments. Specific research topics include the mechanisms of learning and memory, neurotransmitters and growth factors, the visual system, synaptic plasticity, circuits underlying behavior, neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders, neural stem cells, vestibular system function, motor control, and neuronal death, survival and regeneration and pain. Faculty participate in the Neuroscience and Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology training programs.

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Faculty in the Department of Physiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics aim to foster innovation in biomedical research and education and lay the foundation for advancing new therapies. Physiology involves studying cell functions and molecular mechanisms that govern how cells and organs work and interact. Pharmacology builds on and applies this molecular and cellular foundation to determine how to repurpose existing agents and develop new ones to provide treatments across a broad range of diseases and conditions.

Explore the Department of Physiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics