Bio-ECE and Digital Health

Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) offers a wide range of techniques and approaches to studying and interacting with biological systems. Neuroscience is one example where ECE methods for sensing and analyzing large quantities of complex, uncertain data promise unprecedented insight into the human brain. Conversely, areas like neuromorphic computing can leverage data and models from neuroscience to inform the design of artificial neural systems (e.g., vision or auditory). Design automation methods, originally formulated for the design of electronic circuits, now play a central role in synthetic biology, with potential benefits for drug and vaccine development, bioplastics production, and bio-sensor design. Similarly, materials science and nanotechnology play a crucial part in the discovery and characterization of new electronic devices as well as new biomaterials. Electronic devices and computer algorithms are also central to modern medicine: novel imaging modalities, computer-aided diagnoses, personalized treatment regimes, and disease trend analyses are some of the exciting areas where ECE methods play a central role. Research activities in BioECE and Digital Health strongly connect ECE to the BU Medical Campus, the new Center for Integrated Life Sciences and  Engineering, and BU’s Nanotechnology Innovation Center. We invite you to explore our research activities, meet our teams, and read about our success stories by visiting the faculty, lab and research center pages below.

Affiliated faculty

Kayhan Batmanghelich, Irving Bigio, Christos Cassandras, Ji-Xin Cheng, Steven Colburn, Luca Dal Negro, Douglas Densmore, Prakash Ishwar, Ajay Joshi, Clem Karl, Janusz Konrad, Min-Chang Lee, Thomas Little, Hamid Nawab, Bobak Nazer, Ioannis Paschalidis, Siddharth Ramachandran, Venkatesh Saligrama, Michelle Sander, David Starobinski, Anna Swan, Lei Tian, Selim Ünlü, Archana Venkataraman, Tianyu Wang, Chen Yang, Rabia Yazicigil

Affiliated Labs

• AI Photonics Lab
• Cross-Disciplinary Integration of Design Automation Research
• Control of Discrete Event Systems
• Design, Automation, Manufacturing, and Prototyping
• High Dimensional Photonics
• Information and Data Sciences
• Multimedia Communications
• Network Optimization and Control
• Neural Systems Analysis Laboratory
• Visual Information Processing
• WISE Circuits

Affiliated Research Centers

• Biological Design Center
• Center for Information and Systems Engineering
• Computational Neuroscience
• Digital Health Initiative
• Division of Materials Science Engineering
• Nanotechnology Innovation Center
• Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering

In the news:

• October 15, 2025

  Seven ENG Faculty Honored for Real-World Impact Research

  The annual Ignition Awards honor innovative BU projects that are ready to make the move toward commercialization, from the research phase to consumer use. Given by BU Technology Development within the University’s Office of Research, the awards come with financial backing, as well as a dedicated advisory committee to provide expertise, [ More ]

• October 10, 2025

  A Living Internet of Things

  ECE faculty characterize new class of devices, invite participation. [ More ]

• October 3, 2025

  Going Deeper

  Professor Ji-Xin Cheng has been awarded a prestigious $2.8M 5-year NIH MIRA grant renewal to continue his pioneering microscopy research. [ More ]

• September 23, 2025

  Finding Coherence

  Professor Venkataraman has been awarded $3.2M to parse and predict post-stroke aphasia recovery. [ More ]

• August 8, 2025

  CAREER Award for AI Intermediary

  Professor Kayhan Batmanghelich has received a CAREER Award to create an AI system to translate between medical AI systems and clinicians. [ More ]