About Biomedical Engineering and IBBME
Biomedical Engineering integrates engineering and the physical sciences with the life sciences, to address problems in medicine and dentistry or more generally the health sciences. Applying engineering or physical science principles to medical problems is but one facet of this field.
The Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) is a unique, multi-disciplinary organization in which scientists and practitioners from applied science, engineering, medicine, dentistry and the life sciences collaborate to pursue research and graduate and undergraduate teaching mandates within the context of biomedical engineering.
IBBME is an interdisciplinary organization based in three Faculties at the University of Toronto: Applied Science and Engineering, Dentistry and Medicine. The Institute is made up of about 35 core faculty members, of whom more than 20 are tenured/tenure stream faculty. The Institute, where most faculty labs are located, occupies space in the top floors of the Rosebrugh and Mining Buildings, as well as the fourth, fifth and eleventh floors of the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research (Donnelly CCBR). We supervise more than 250 graduate students, many in collaborative programs with other Departments, and there are almost 100 undergraduate students in the third and fourth year of the engineering science biomedical engineering option, with which we are closely associated.
The Institute pursues research in four areas:
- Neural, sensory systems and rehabilitation engineering;
- Biomaterials, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine;
- Nanotechnology, Molecular Imaging and Systems Biology; and
- Engineering in a clinical setting.
Our vision is to be one of the world-leading biomedical engineering institutes/departments. Our students and faculty participate in innovative educational programs and high impact research to underpin this leadership. IBBME is the leading biomedical engineering unit in Canada. Such leadership is based on being part of Canada's best Faculties and being located near the geographic centre of one of the leading Health Sciences Complex in North America. IBBME is a prime example of interdisciplinarity, combining core strength in biomedical engineering with a spirit of collaboration that enables it to work closely with many cognate units in the University.
To view our programs brochure, which provides an overview of the Institute, please click here.