Systems, Synthetic, and Computational Bioengineering

Research groups in systems, synthetic, and computational bioengineering apply engineering principles to model and understand complex biological systems, including differentiation and development, pathogenesis and cancer, and learning and behavior. This involves designing and implementing methods for procuring quantitative and sometimes very large data sets, as well as developing theoretical models and computational tools for interpreting these data.

Deciphering the workings of a biological system allows us to identify potential biomarkers and drug targets, to develop protocols for personalized medicine, and more. In addition, we use the design principles of biological systems we discover to engineer and refine new synthetic biological systems for clinical, agricultural, environmental, and energy applications.

Primary faculty contacts


Saeed Amal
Saeed Amal
Assistant Research Professor,  Bioengineering

Artificial intelligence including deep learning and machine learning for healthcare, natural language processing (NLP) and image processing for healthcare, recommender systems for healthcare


Erel Levine
Erel Levine
Associate Professor,  Bioengineering
Affiliated Faculty,  Chemical Engineering

Systems and synthetic biology of the Brain-Immune-Gut super-system; Interactions among hosts and microbes; Deep learning approaches to interpreting biological data and designing biomedical solutions


Herbert Levine
Herbert Levine
University Distinguished Professor,  Physics & Bioengineering
University Distinguished Professor,  Bioengineering

Physical modeling of cancer progression, metastasis and interaction with the immune system. Most recent interests include the role of metabolic plasticity in these processes and the co-evolution of the tumor and the adaptive immune system. Other areas include spatial organization of the actin cytoskeleton, the mechanics of collective cell motility, and the analysis of genetic circuits involved in cell fate decisions.


Elizabeth Libby
Elizabeth Libby
Assistant Professor,  Bioengineering

Synthetic biology, microbiology, biosensor development


Mingyang Lu
Mingyang Lu
Assistant Professor,  Bioengineering

Computational systems biology, an integration of mathematical modeling and bioinformatics for studying gene regulatory networks, single cell genomics, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, coarse-graining, reverse engineering, machine learning, stochasticity and heterogeneity in gene expression


Mona Minkara
Mona Minkara
Assistant Professor,  Bioengineering
Affiliated Faculty,  Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Pulmonary surfactant (PS), Surfactant immunoproteins, Innate immune response, Computational methods, Computational modeling, Molecular Dynamics, Monte Carlo Simulations, Interfacial Phenomena, Biological interfaces, Therapeutics, Molecular Biophysics, Computational chemistry, Bioengineering, STEM Accessibility


Nikolai Slavov
Nikolai Slavov
Professor,  Bioengineering
Founding Director,  Parallel Squared Technology Institute
Allen Distinguished Investigator,  Allen Frontiers Group
Director,  Single-Cell Proteomics Center
Affiliated Faculty,  Biology
Affiliated Faculty,  Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Single-cell proteomics, immunology, cancer drug resistance, translational regulation, quantitative systems biology, mass spectrometry, RNA decoding, protein synthesis and degradation, macrophage polarization, neurodegenerative diseases


Eduardo Sontag
University Distinguished Professor,  Electrical and Computer Engineering & Bioengineering
University Distinguished Professor,  Bioengineering
Affiliated Faculty,  Chemical Engineering

Feedback control theory, systems biology, cancer, and biomedicine


Kiran Vanaja
Kiran Vanaja
Assistant Research Professor,  Bioengineering

Systems biology of signaling networks in cancer (and) therapeutics, metastasis and embryonic development


Raimond Winslow
Raimond Winslow
Professor,  Bioengineering , Khoury College of Computer Sciences & Clinical and Rehabilitation Sciences
Jointly Appointed,  Khoury College of Computer Sciences & Clinical and Rehabilitation Sciences
Jointly Appointed,  Clinical and Rehabilitation Sciences
Director of Life Science and Medicine Research,  Roux Institute

Computational modeling of the cardiac myocyte to understand the molecular basis of arrhythmias; machine learning in critical care medicine to identify those patients who require urgent care