Johns Hopkins Biomedical Engineering

Engineering the Future of Medicine

News

BME student entrepreneurs win top prizes at HopStart 2026

Three teams from the Department of Biomedical Engineering walked away with prizes from the competition's main categories.

Lab study reveals patterns of inheritance that defy Mendel’s Laws

A new study reveals that epigenetic marks can be inherited in ways that break the century-long understanding of the rules of inheritance explored and recorded by Gregor Mendel’s work with pea plants.

12 undergraduates from Hopkins BME receive summer research awards

These awardees will spend their summers driving medical innovation under world class mentors.

Three students stand under a balloon arch with the words Design Day.

A look back at Design Day 2026

Relive the day and see our student teams in action.

Students look at readings on a TENS device with electrodes attached to a fake arm.

The Shape of Pain Relief: Geometric electrode device enhances chronic pain therapy

Designed by BME undergraduates, the StarSwitch device allows clinicians to quickly switch between stimulation sites during electrical stimulation pain relief therapy

Hopkins BME alum receives Schmidt Science Fellowship

Yining Zhu, a biomedical engineering and INBT PhD alum from Johns Hopkins University, has been selected as a 2026 Schmidt Science Fellow, a prestigious international postdoctoral fellowship awarded to a small group of early-career scientists.

Students and a professor pose in front of their project poster.

Helping Hands: Improved measurement of hand dysfunction boosts stroke recovery outcomes

BME master’s students use machine learning to enhance personalized recovery for stroke survivors

Angelica Lopez holds her award and poses for a photo with others.

Angelica Lopez inducted into Bouchet Society

Lopez's research focuses on neuromodulation technologies and ultrasound-based medical devices for cardiovascular and neurological applications.

A smiling woman with long dark hair and colorful geometric earrings, wearing a dark purple top.

Hopkins MD/PhD student wins 2026 Soros Fellowship for “dark genome” research

One of 30 nationwide recipients, Akshaya Annapragada was recognized for AI research illuminating the "dark genome" to detect cancer earlier.

Nine from Hopkins BME earn NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

The highly competitive fellowship recognizes their research in neuroscience, gene delivery, robotics, and more.

News Brief: Mihaela Pertea named ISCB Fellow

Pertea was recognized for her contributions to transcriptome assembly, most notably as creator of StringTie, a groundbreaking tool that redefined the field when it launched in 2015.

Reza Kalhor is standing in front of a brick wall wearing a blue button down shirt.

Synthetic biologist Reza Kalhor receives $250,000 President’s Innovation Award

Kalhor’s research addresses a fundamental challenge in medicine: understanding how early-life biological signals influence disease decades later.

Young Investigators 2026

Four from Hopkins BME recognized at Young Investigators’ Day

The annual Young Investigators’ Day ceremony celebrates the unique contributions of junior researchers and the mentors who helped them excel in their fields.

News Brief: Jordan Green wins Clemson Award for Applied Research from Society for Biomaterials

The award honors researchers who apply basic scientific principles to solve critical challenges in biomaterials.

Roma Desai Sameer Gabbita

Two Johns Hopkins BME students awarded Goldwater Scholarships

Johns Hopkins University biomedical engineering students Roma Desai and Sameer Gabbita are among 454 students awarded Goldwater Scholarships.

A laptop computer shows data coming from a device in a student's ear.

Sleep studies on the go: In-ear device enables continuous monitoring outside the clinic

HypnosDx device, a BME student innovation, provides a portable alternative to the traditional sleep study to diagnose conditions such as narcolepsy.

News Brief: Reza Kalhor receives 2026 Lee Hood Prize

This award recognizes and supports innovative research by early career faculty members in the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences by providing them with funding to pursue their most creative ideas.

A close-up, dramatic shot of a Seba's short-tailed bat (Carollia perspicillata) in mid-flight against a dark, moody blue and black background. The bat is facing the camera with its wings spread wide, revealing the thin, translucent membrane and skeletal structure of its wings. It has brown, fuzzy fur, large pointed ears, and a prominent leaf-shaped nose. Its mouth is slightly open, showing its small teeth and pink tongue, appearing as if it is mid-call or navigating using echolocation. Lighting from above highlights the texture of its fur and the details of its facial features.

Johns Hopkins study overturns long-held assumption about bat vision

For more than 80 years, scientists believed bat eyes were static. Research from the Cullen Lab reveals the first direct evidence of bat eye movement and its critical role in navigation.

Student holding a round, flat, silver, and circular device

Clear-eyed canine: Cell sorting device aims to improve treatment for dogs with blindness

Sort-A-Cell device, created by BME undergraduate design team, prepares high-quality cell suspensions for use in cell injection therapy to treat blindness in dogs.

News Brief: Natalia Trayanova featured on CNN for digital heart twin breakthrough

The coverage highlights how Trayanova and her team are using virtual, patient-specific heart models to guide life-saving procedures with remarkable precision.

Andrew Feinberg

Feinberg receives Clowes Award for Outstanding Basic Cancer Research

Feinberg is the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Epigenetics in the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences and director of the Division of Molecular Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Side by side headshots of Stephanie Hicks and Jamie Spangler

Hicks, Spangler named to AIMBE College of Fellows

Stephanie Hicks and Jamie Spangler honored for outstanding contributions to engineering and medicine research, practice, or education.

News Brief: Jeff Coller writes NYT op-ed on a new era for rare disease treatment

A female biomedical engineering graduate student in a white lab coat and protective pink gloves lifts a frosted sample rack from a liquid nitrogen tank, while a male researcher looks on in a laboratory setting.

Hopkins BME graduate programs again ranked No. 1 by ‘U.S. News’

The 2026 U.S. News rankings are in: Johns Hopkins Biomedical Engineering remains the nation’s top graduate program.

AI blood-based cell-free DNA analyses detect early liver fibrosis and other diseases. Credit: Carolyn Hruban

AI-based liquid biopsy may detect liver fibrosis, cirrhosis and chronic disease signals

New Johns Hopkins research shows an AI-driven liquid biopsy analyzing genome-wide cfDNA fragment patterns can detect early liver fibrosis & cirrhosis and may signal broader chronic disease burden.

Natalia Trayanova

Digital twin hearts deliver 100% success in arrhythmia trial

Novel technology outperforms clinical standard for life-threatening condition.

A scientific diagram showing various grey and multicolored protein structures. Branching chains of colorful geometric shapes representing sugars are attached to the proteins. One specific red sugar molecule is highlighted with a yellow box containing the chemical symbol N3, representing a synthetic tag used for cancer detection.

Cancer’s “sweet tooth” reveals an unexpected clue for tissue repair

Hopkins researchers engineered sugar molecules that reveal hidden tumor markers and unexpectedly enhance the body’s natural healing signals.

A magnifying glass shows a DNA strand amongst colorful rectangles.

What’s in a gene?

More than 20 years after the Human Genome Project was completed, scientists are still working on interpreting more than three billion base pairs of chemical molecules that make up human DNA.

Jeff Coller and Michael Miller headshots.

Two Johns Hopkins BME researchers named American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows

Two Johns Hopkins Biomedical Engineering researchers are among 449 distinguished scholars elected to the newest class of fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS, the world's largest general scientific society.

Two seated students talking with health care providers in India.

Every second counts: Hopkins students build AI decision support tool to prevent maternal deaths

Their app provides instant risk assessments and evidence-based recommendations when the nearest obstetrician may be 50+ kilometers away.

Read the Johns Hopkins University privacy statement here.

Accept