Bioengineering

University of California, Berkeley

About the Program

The Department of Bioengineering offers a Master of Engineering (MEng) in Bioengineering, PhD in Bioengineering, and a Master of Translational Medicine (MTM). The PhD and MTM are operated in partnership with UC San Francisco, and degrees are granted jointly by UCSF and UC Berkeley.

Master of Engineering (MEng)

The Master of Engineering is a one-year master’s degree with a strong emphasis on engineering and entrepreneurship designed for students planning to move directly into industry after completing the program.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The PhD in Bioengineering is granted jointly by Berkeley and UCSF, two of the top public universities in the world in engineering and health sciences. Our interdisciplinary program combines the outstanding resources in biomedical and clinical sciences at UCSF with the excellence in engineering, physical, and life sciences at Berkeley.

Administered by the Department of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley and the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at UCSF, all students in the program are simultaneously enrolled in the graduate divisions of both the San Francisco and Berkeley campuses and are free to take advantage of courses and research opportunities on both campuses. The program awards the PhD in Bioengineering degree from both campuses.

Master of Translational Medicine (MTM)

The MTM program is a cross-campus collaboration between the Department of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley and the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at UCSF. The MTM program is an intense year of coursework designed around the main content themes of engineering, clinical needs & strategies, and business, entrepreneurship & technology. The centerpiece of the curriculum is the capstone project course. The MTM program is specifically designed for students seeking to build a career in medical-technology innovation and development. Through our highly specialized curriculum, students are provided with the fundamental skills necessary to become experts at transforming new biomedical discoveries into real-world clinical products. The MTM program is best suited for students who intend to pursue a professional career developing new medical technologies, and who wish to become leaders in the emerging field of translational medicine.   

Faculty

Berkeley department faculty can be found on the department website. For a full list of our core PhD faculty, visit this page.

Visit Department Website

Admissions

Admission to the Master of Engineering

Please see more information on the department website.

Admission to the Master of Translational Medicine

Please see more information about the MTM Program.

Admission to the Doctor of Philosophy

Please see detailed guidelines and instructions on the graduate program website.

Admission to the University

Applying for Graduate Admission

Thank you for considering UC Berkeley for graduate study! UC Berkeley offers more than 120 graduate programs representing the breadth and depth of interdisciplinary scholarship. The Graduate Division hosts a complete list of graduate academic programs, departments, degrees offered, and application deadlines can be found on the Graduate Division website.

Prospective students must submit an online application to be considered for admission, in addition to any supplemental materials specific to the program for which they are applying. The online application and steps to take to apply can be found on the Graduate Division website.

Admission Requirements

The minimum graduate admission requirements are:

  1. A bachelor’s degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution;

  2. A satisfactory scholastic average, usually a minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 (B) on a 4.0 scale; and

  3. Enough undergraduate training to do graduate work in your chosen field.

For a list of requirements to complete your graduate application, please see the Graduate Division’s Admissions Requirements page. It is also important to check with the program or department of interest, as they may have additional requirements specific to their program of study and degree. Department contact information can be found here.

Where to apply?

Visit the Berkeley Graduate Division application page.

Doctoral Degree Requirements

Curriculum

 The course requirements are designed to develop a strong and useful knowledge base in both biology and engineering. In general, the program of study includes a major and a minor field of study. Due to the wide variety of topics included in bioengineering and the variety of student interests, major and minor subfields will be chosen by the student in consultation with their primary graduate adviser, taking into account the student’s prior training, research interests, and career goals. Students who already hold a master’s or other professional degree (MD, DDS, or DVM) may not be required to complete minor coursework.

All students in the Program must complete the following course requirements:

  • Area Requirements (see below)
  • Major Area and Minor Area
    Major = 16 semester (24 quarter) units. Minor = 8 semester (12 quarter) units.
  • First Year Seminars: Bioengineering 200 (UCB) and Bioengineering 280/281 (UCSF)
  • Bioengineering Teaching Techniques: Bioengineering 301 (UCB)
  • Ethics: Bioengineering 201 (UCB) or equivalent, taken in the first and fourth years
  • Racism in Science: Grad 202 (UCSF)

All students in the Ph.D. program are required to have completed, at some time during their academic career, the Area Requirements described below. Most students will have completed some of these courses prior to initiating the Ph.D. program; any remaining coursework will be integrated into the graduate program of study.

  • Anatomy, physiology, and biology: 9 semester or 13.5 quarter units of upper division or graduate level coursework.
  • Biochemistry and/or intermediate chemistry: 3 semester or 4.5 quarter units of upper division or graduate level coursework.
  • Engineering and/or computer science: 7 semester or 10.5 quarter units of upper division or graduate level coursework.
  • Mathematics and/or statistics: 2 semester or 3 quarter units of upper division or graduate level coursework.

Laboratory Rotations

Students should perform three 12-week rotations in different graduate group faculty laboratories during the first year. The objective of the research rotation is to allow students to become familiar with different areas of research, learn new experimental techniques, obtain experience in unique research laboratories, and ultimately to identify a lab in which to conduct dissertation research. The research being performed during a rotation may correspond to the initial stages of a thesis project or may be on an entirely different topic.

Teaching

Anticipating future careers which may include teaching, all graduate students participate in undergraduate instruction by serving as a Graduate Student Instructor for at least one semester.

Qualifying Examination

An oral qualifying examination must be taken in the spring of the second year or the fall of the third year. In this examination, students demonstrate their ability to recognize research problems of fundamental importance, to propose appropriate experimental approaches to address these problems and to display comprehensive knowledge of their disciplinary area and related subjects.

Dissertation Work 

After advancing to candidacy, a student meets each fall semester with his or her thesis committee to discuss the dissertation project, to review results, and to chart directions for their third and subsequent years. In the final years in the program, students complete a dissertation based on original laboratory research. It generally takes five and a half years to complete the doctoral program.

Please see the graduate program website for more details. 

Master's Degree Requirements

Please see the Master of Translational Medicine program page for MTM degree requirements. 

Core Requirements

The Bioengineering MEng Degree requires a minimum 25 total units of course credit, a capstone report and presentation, and passing the leadership and technical comprehensive exams. Coursework requirements fall across three areas – technical bioengineering (12 units), leadership (8 units), and capstone (5 units).

1. Technical Electives – Bioengineering Courses [12 units]

Students must take a minimum of 12 credits of 200-level Bioengineering courses for a letter grade, selected within any of our 7 technical concentrations, or any Bioengineering courses across those concentrations.

2. Leadership Courses [8 units]
ENGIN 270CTeaming & Project Management (fall)1
ENGIN 270KCoaching for High Performance Teams (spring)1
Two units of ENGIN 295 Communications (One unit in fall and one unit in spring)2
Communications for Engineering Leaders [1]
Two boot camp short courses in mid-August (One unit each)2
Organizational Behavior for Engineers [1]
R&D Technology Management & Ethics [1]
Two units of boot camp short courses in early January. Select two of any of the one-unit electives (Note: Electives listed below are subject to change)2
Entrepreneurship for Engineers [1]
Marketing & Product Management [1]
Accounting & Finance for Engineers [1]
Technology Strategy for Engineering Leaders [1]
Industry Analysis for Engineering Leaders [1]
Global Leadership Expertise [1]
Professional Ethics in Technology, Law and Business [1]
3. Capstone Experience [5 units] 

Students must be enrolled in ENGIN 296MA in the fall (1-2 units) and ENGIN 296MB in the spring (3-4 units), for a total of 5 units total over both semesters.

4. Comprehensive Exams – Leadership & Technical
Leadership: The Fung Institute will administer a written exam for the fall leadership portion of the curriculum. Students should be prepared to spend a designated day to complete the degree requirement Leadership Comprehensive Exam.
 
Technical: The Bioengineering Technical Comprehensive Exam will take place late in the Spring semester (generally during RRR week) and will consist of a 20 minute minimum presentation on your Capstone project. The presentation will be assessed by a BioE faculty member and an allied field member (for example, if a project is in ME, the second assessor must be in ME). Students will be asked probing questions during the presentation and answers given will determine a pass. If a student fails the presentation requirement, they will be given the option to give the presentation again the following Fall semester. Failure to pass the exam on the third attempt will constitute a failure of the comprehensive exam requirement for the MEng degree. 

Please visit the Bioengineering Department website for more details. 

Concentrations

Students earning this degree will choose a track (concentration) of coursework in one of these seven fields. Please see the requirements for each concentration below:

Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
BIO ENG 225Biomolecular Structure Determination3
BIO ENG 231Introduction to Computational Molecular and Cellular Biology4
BIO ENG 235Frontiers in Microbial Systems Biology4
BIO ENG 241Probabilistic Modeling in Computational Biology4
BIO ENG 245Introduction to Machine Learning for Computational Biology4
Biomedical Engineering Design
BIO ENG 221LBioMEMS and BioNanotechnology Laboratory4
BIO ENG 224Basic Principles of Drug Delivery3
BIO ENG C237Adv Designing for the Human Body4
BIO ENG C250Nanomaterials in Medicine3
BIO ENG 252Clinical Need-Based Therapy Solutions2
BIO ENG 253Biotechnology Entrepreneurship: Impact, History, Therapeutics R&D, Entrepreneurship & Careers2
Biomedical Imaging
BIO ENG 252Clinical Need-Based Therapy Solutions2
BIO ENG C261Medical Imaging Signals and Systems4
BIO ENG 263Principles of Molecular and Cellular Biophotonics4
BIO ENG 263LMolecular and Cellular Biophotonics Laboratory4
Biomaterials & Biomedical Devices
BIO ENG C208Biological Performance of Materials4
BIO ENG C215Molecular Biomechanics and Mechanobiology of the Cell4
BIO ENG C216Macromolecular Science in Biotechnology and Medicine4
BIO ENG 221Advanced BioMEMS and Bionanotechnology4
BIO ENG 221LBioMEMS and BioNanotechnology Laboratory4
BIO ENG C223Polymer Engineering3
BIO ENG 224Basic Principles of Drug Delivery3
BIO ENG C237Adv Designing for the Human Body4
BIO ENG C250Nanomaterials in Medicine3
BIO ENG 252Clinical Need-Based Therapy Solutions2
BIO ENG 253Biotechnology Entrepreneurship: Impact, History, Therapeutics R&D, Entrepreneurship & Careers2
General Bioengineering
BIO ENG C208Biological Performance of Materials4
BIO ENG C209Advanced Orthopedic Biomechanics4
BIO ENG C215Molecular Biomechanics and Mechanobiology of the Cell4
BIO ENG C216Macromolecular Science in Biotechnology and Medicine4
BIO ENG 221Advanced BioMEMS and Bionanotechnology4
BIO ENG 221LBioMEMS and BioNanotechnology Laboratory4
BIO ENG C223Polymer Engineering3
BIO ENG 224Basic Principles of Drug Delivery3
BIO ENG 225Biomolecular Structure Determination3
BIO ENG 231Introduction to Computational Molecular and Cellular Biology4
BIO ENG 235Frontiers in Microbial Systems Biology4
BIO ENG C237Adv Designing for the Human Body4
BIO ENG 241Probabilistic Modeling in Computational Biology4
BIO ENG 245Introduction to Machine Learning for Computational Biology4
BIO ENG 247Principles of Synthetic Biology4
BIO ENG 248Bioenergy and Sustainable Chemical Synthesis: Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology Approaches3
BIO ENG C250Nanomaterials in Medicine3
BIO ENG 252Clinical Need-Based Therapy Solutions2
BIO ENG 253Biotechnology Entrepreneurship: Impact, History, Therapeutics R&D, Entrepreneurship & Careers2
BIO ENG C261Medical Imaging Signals and Systems4
BIO ENG 263Principles of Molecular and Cellular Biophotonics4
BIO ENG 263LMolecular and Cellular Biophotonics Laboratory4
Mechanobiology
 
BIO ENG C209Advanced Orthopedic Biomechanics4
BIO ENG C215Molecular Biomechanics and Mechanobiology of the Cell4
BIO ENG C237Adv Designing for the Human Body4
Synthetic Biology
BIO ENG 225Biomolecular Structure Determination3
BIO ENG 235Frontiers in Microbial Systems Biology4
BIO ENG 245Introduction to Machine Learning for Computational Biology4
BIO ENG 247Principles of Synthetic Biology4
BIO ENG 248Bioenergy and Sustainable Chemical Synthesis: Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology Approaches3
 

Courses

Bioengineering

Contact Information

Department of Bioengineering

306 Stanley Hall

MC 1762

Phone: 510-642-5833

bioeng@berkeley.edu

Visit Department Website

Department Chair

Phil Messersmith, PhD

Phone: 510-642-5833

bioe_chair@berkeley.edu

Graduate Student Affairs Officer - PhD

Rocío Sanchez

306D Stanley hall

Phone: 510-642-9931

rocio_s@berkeley.edu

Executive Director, MTM Program

Verna Rodriguez

418 Hearst Memorial Mining Building

vmrodriguez@berkeley.edu

Graduate Student Services - Master's Programs

Joy Ahn

Phone: 510-642-5833

bioe-meng@berkeley.edu

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