This research cluster includes multidisciplinary research in the areas of biomedical devices, sensors and instrumentation, brain health & neuroscience, tissue engineering, biological sciences & behavior, molecular biology, evolutionary sciences, and gene therapy and phenotype related research. Researchers at NJIT are advancing our understanding of the functions of the brain and spinal cord under normal, injured and diseased states at molecular, cellular and functional levels through experimental, theoretical and computational methods. Imaging experts, computer scientists and biomedical engineers are working together, for example, to devise therapies and devices that will improve motor, cognitive and organ functions. To this end, our tissue engineers focus on replacing dysfunctional cells with regenerating cells and tissues. The Bioscience and Bioengineering cluster intersects with other research clusters including Material Science and Engineering, Robotics and Machine Intelligence and Data Science and Management in developing healthcare technologies and systems such as point-of-care medical sensors, devices and rehabilitation systems as well as healthcare information systems and management involving primary care, hospitals and emergency care resources and protocols.
The scope of the proposed cluster includes areas that are aligned with the NSF’s 10 Big Ideas, and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Grand Challenges in “Reverse Engineering of the Brain,” “Tools for Scientific Discovery,” “Understanding the Rules of Life: Predicting Phenotype” and “Engineering Better Medicine.”