Bioengineering
Showing 81-99 of 99 Results
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Hyongsok Tom Soh
W. M. Keck Foundation Professor of Electrical Engineering, Professor of Radiology (Diagnostic Sciences Laboratory) and of Bioengineering
On Partial Leave from 04/01/2026 To 06/30/2026BioDr. Soh received his B.S. with a double major in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science with Distinction from Cornell University and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. From 1999 to 2003, Dr. Soh served as the technical manager of MEMS Device Research Group at Bell Laboratories and Agere Systems. He was a faculty member at UCSB before joining Stanford in 2015. His current research interests are in analytical biotechnology, especially in high-throughput screening, directed evolution, and integrated biosensors.
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James Swartz
James H. Clark Professor in the School of Engineering and Professor of Chemical Engineering and of Bioengineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProgram Overview
The world we enjoy, including the oxygen we breathe, has been beneficially created by biological systems. Consequently, we believe that innovative biotechnologies can also serve to help correct a natural world that non-natural technologies have pushed out of balance. We must work together to provide a sustainable world system capable of equitably improving the lives of over 10 billion people.
Toward that objective, our program focuses on human health as well as planet health. To address particularly difficult challenges, we seek to synergistically combine: 1) the design and evolution of complex protein-based nanoparticles and enzymatic systems with 2) innovative, uniquely capable cell-free production technologies.
To advance human health we focus on: a) achieving the 120 year-old dream of producing “magic bullets”; smart nanoparticles that deliver therapeutics or genetic therapies only to specific cells in our bodies; b) precisely designing and efficiently producing vaccines that mimic viruses to stimulate safe and protective immune responses; and c) providing a rapid point-of-care liquid biopsy that will count and harvest circulating tumor cells.
To address planet health we are pursuing biotechnologies to: a) inexpensively use atmospheric CO2 to produce commodity biochemicals as the basis for a new carbon negative chemical industry, and b) mitigate the intermittency challenges of photovoltaic and wind produced electricity by producing hydrogen either from biomass sugars or directly from sunlight.
More than 25 years ago, Professor Swartz began his pioneering work to develop cell-free biotechnologies. The new ability to precisely focus biological systems toward efficiently addressing new, “non-natural” objectives has proven tremendously useful as we seek to address the crucial and very difficult challenges listed above. Another critical feature of the program is the courage (or naivete) to approach important objectives that require the development and integration of several necessary-but- not-sufficient technology advances. -
Sindy Tang
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Radiology and of Bioengineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProf. Sindy K.Y. Tang develops engineering platforms that measure biological systems and convert these measurements into quantitative datasets. Her research focuses on experimental systems that probe biological processes across cellular and tissue scales, particularly how physical context—geometry, mechanics, and spatial organization—shapes biological function. Current work spans immune diagnostics, spatial tissue sampling for multi-omics analysis, and single-cell perturbation studies.
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Hawa Racine Thiam
Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and of Microbiology and Immunology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur current work has two branches. Branch #1 is building a quantitative and predictive understanding of how neutrophils initiate and complete NETosis. Branch #2 is identifying the molecular and biophysical mechanisms that regulate high deformability in neutrophils. These branches converge onto understanding and harnessing the impact of nuclear biophysics on immune cell functions to re-engineer neutrophils for improved health.
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Ross Daniel Venook
Senior Lecturer of Bioengineering
BioRoss is a Senior Lecturer in the Bioengineering department and he is the Associate Director for Engineering at the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign.
Ross primarily co-leads undergraduate laboratory courses at Stanford—an instrumentation lab (BIOE123) and an open-ended capstone design lab sequence (BIOE141A/B)—and he supports other courses and runs hands-on workshops in the areas of prototyping and systems engineering related to medical device innovation. He enjoys the unique challenges and constraints offered by biomedical engineering projects, and he delights in the opportunity for collaborative learning in a problem-solving environment.
An Electrical Engineer by training (Stanford BS, MS, PhD), Ross’ graduate work focused on building and applying new types of MRI hardware for interventional and device-related uses. Following a Biodesign Innovation fellowship, Ross helped to start the MRI safety program at Boston Scientific Neuromodulation, where he worked for 15 years to enable safe MRI access for patients with implanted medical devices--including collaboration across the MRI safety community to create and improve international standards. -
Bo Wang
Associate Professor of Bioengineering and, by courtesy, of Developmental Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch interests:
(1) Systems biology of whole-body regeneration
(2) Cell type evolution through the lens of single-cell multiomic sequencing analysis
(3) Quantitative biology of brain regeneration
(4) Regeneration of animal-algal photosymbiotic systems -
Paul J. Wang, MD
John R. and Ai Giak L. Singleton Director, Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine) and, by courtesy, of Bioengineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Wang's research centers on the development of innovative approaches to the treatment of arrhythmias, including more effective catheter ablation techniques, more reliable implantable devices, and less invasive treatments. Dr. Wang's clinical research interests include atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, syncope, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Dr. Wang is committed to addressing disparities in care and is actively involved in increasing diversity in clinical trials.
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Joseph Woo, MD, FACS, FACC, FAHA
Norman E. Shumway Professor, Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery and, by courtesy, of Bioengineering
BioDr. Woo is a board-certified, fellowship-trained cardiothoracic surgeon, cardiovascular surgeon, and transplant surgeon with Stanford Health Care. He is professor and chair of the Stanford Medicine Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and associate director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute. He is also the Norman E. Shumway Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery and professor, by courtesy, in the Department of Bioengineering.
Dr. Woo is a nationally recognized surgeon, innovator, researcher, and educator in cardiothoracic surgery. He focuses on complex mitral and aortic valve repair, thoracic aortic surgery, heart and lung transplantation, and minimally invasive heart surgery. He was awarded the American Heart Association’s 2021 Clinical Research Prize for developing innovative and minimally invasive surgeries to repair and reconstruct heart valves.
In 2022, Dr. Woo and his team at Stanford Health Care performed the first beating-heart transplant from a donation after circulatory death (DCD) donor and organ perfusion system. Keeping a donor heart pumping while it’s transported to the recipient and then implanting the heart while it’s beating minimizes organ damage. This groundbreaking new procedure is expected to increase the number of hearts available for transplant while improving health outcomes.
As a physician-scientist, Dr. Woo has served as principal investigator on multiple studies funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants. One explored an innovative therapy to stimulate vascular (blood-carrying) stem cells in the bone marrow and direct them to the heart to grow new blood vessels and improve blood flow to damaged heart muscle.
Dr. Woo has also been the primary investigator for clinical trials involving the administration of stem cells during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation. In addition, Dr. Woo has served as primary investigator for multiple clinical device trials. He has filed for and holds patents for several heart-related medical devices and surgical techniques.
Dr. Woo has co-authored more than 510 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has served as a reviewer for many of them, including the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, and Circulation. He has also presented his research and performed live surgery demonstrations both nationally and internationally.
Dr. Woo serves as president-elect of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) and past president of the AATS Cardiac Surgery Biology Club. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, American College of Cardiology, and American Heart Association. He is a member of many other professional societies, including the World Society of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons and International Society for Heart Research. He also serves on the leadership committee of the American Heart Association’s Council on Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia. -
Fan Yang
Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and of Bioengineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur lab’s mission is to develop therapies for regenerating human tissues lost due to diseases or aging, and to build tissue engineered 3D models for understanding disease progression and informing drug discovery. We invent biomaterials and engineering tools to elucidate and modulate biology, and also use biology to inform materials and engineering design. Our work is highly interdisciplinary, and is driven by unmet clinical needs or key gaps in biology.
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Yunzhi Peter Yang
Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and, by courtesy, of Materials Science and Engineering and of Bioengineering
On Partial Leave from 12/01/2025 To 05/31/2026Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Yang Lab focuses on next-generation solutions at the intersection of 3D printing, regenerative medicine, modular tissue engineering, biomaterials, and medical device innovation. Our research focuses on engineering dynamic, biomimetic microenvironments that promote cell growth, tissue regeneration, and functional restoration. We develop transformative technologies to treat a broad spectrum of musculoskeletal conditions—including multi-tissue healing challenges and complex traumatic injuries.
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Paul Yock, MD
Martha Meier Weiland Professor in the School of Medicine and Professor of Bioengineering, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsHealth technology innovation using the Biodesign process: a systematic approach to the design of biomedical technologies based on detailed clinical and economic needs characterization. New approaches for interdisciplinary training of health technology innovators, including processes for identifying value opportunities in creating new technology-based approaches to health care.
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Renee Zhao
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and, by courtesy, of Bioengineering and of Materials Science and Engineering
BioRuike Renee Zhao is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, where she directs the Soft Intelligent Materials Laboratory. Originally from the historic city of Xi'an, she earned her BS from Xi'an Jiaotong University in 2012. She then pursued Solid Mechanics at Brown University, obtaining her MS in 2014 and PhD in 2016. Following her doctoral studies, she completed postdoctoral training at MIT (2016–2018) before serving as an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University (2018–2021).
Renee’s research focuses on developing stimuli-responsive soft composites for multifunctional robotic systems with integrated shape-changing, assembly, sensing, and navigation capabilities. By integrating mechanics, material science, and advanced material manufacturing, her work enables innovations in soft robotics, miniaturized biomedical devices, robotic surgery, origami systems, active metamaterials, and general deployable morphing structures.
Her contributions have been recognized with honors and awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), DARPA Young Faculty Award (YFA, 2025), ARO Early Career Program (ECP) Award (2023), AFOSR Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) Award (2023), Eshelby Mechanics Award for Young Faculty (2022), ASME Henry Hess Early Career Publication Award (2022), ASME Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal (2022), ASME Applied Mechanics Division Journal of Applied Mechanics Award (2021), NSF CAREER Award (2020), and ASME Applied Mechanics Division Haythornthwaite Research Initiation Award (2018). She is also recognized as a National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow and was named one of MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators Under 35.
