Biological Engineering [BE] was founded in 1998 as a new MIT departmental academic unit, with the mission of defining and establishing a new discipline fusing molecular life sciences with engineering. The goal of our biological engineering discipline, Course 20, is to advance fundamental understanding of how biological systems operate and to develop effective biology-based technologies for applications across a wide spectrum of societal needs including breakthroughs in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, in design of novel materials, devices, and processes, and in enhancing environmental health. The innovative educational programs created by BE reflect this emphasis on integrating molecular and cellular biosciences with a quantitative, systems-oriented engineering analysis and synthesis approach, offering opportunities at the undergraduate level for the SB degree in Biological Engineering, and at the graduate level for the Ph.D. in Biological Engineering (with emphasis in either Applied Biosciences or Bioengineering).

For more information, go to the Biological Engineering department site .

Recent Submissions

  • BE.420J Biomolecular Kinetics and Cellular Dynamics, Fall 2004 

    Wittrup, K. Dane; Tidor, Bruce (2004-12)
    This subject deals primarily with kinetic and equilibrium mathematical models of biomolecular interactions, as well as the application of these quantitative analyses to biological problems across a wide range of levels of ...
  • BE.102 Macroepidemiology, Spring 2005 

    Thilly, William G. (2005-06)
    This course presents a unique and challenging perspective on the causes of human disease and mortality. The course focuses on analyses of major causes of mortality in the US since 1900: cancer cardiovascular and cerebrovascular ...
  • BE.011J Statistical Thermodynamics of Biomolecular Systems, Spring 2004 

    Hamad-Schifferli, Kimberly; Griffith, Linda G. (2004-06)
    This course provides an introduction to the physical chemistry of biological systems. Topics include: connection of macroscopic thermodynamic properties to microscopic molecular properties using statistical mechanics, ...

View more