Biomedical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology. This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine: It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to improve healthcare diagnosis, monitoring and therapy.

Ukraine has a good history of excellence in Biomedical Engineering.  Biomedical Engineering is a tightly-integrated, interdisciplinary department, composed of faculty members from both the School of Engineering & Applied Science and the School of Medicine.

The department has two primary missions: first, to educate students in this field of study, which is important to the prosperity of the nation and, second, to develop bioengineering and bio imaging technologies that bring advances in molecular biology, cellular biology, and human physiology to the clinical environment. To accomplish this mission, the department hosts research projects in biomedical imaging, biomechanics, and bimolecular engineering.

Biomedical Engineering involves the creation of enhanced opportunities and facilities for student research projects in key areas of bimolecular engineering: particularly drug delivery, tissue engineering, and biomaterials. These areas intersect with our existing research strengths in biomedical imaging (which emphasizes image processing, computer vision and functional imaging) and biomechanics (particularly cardiovascular mechanics and orthopedics).

Sometimes, disciplines within BME are classified by their association(s) with other, more established engineering fields, which can include:

• Chemical engineering - often associated with biochemical, cellular, molecular and tissue engineering, biomaterials, and bio transport.
• Electrical engineering - often associated with bioelectrical and neural engineering, bioinstrumentation, biomedical imaging, and medical devices. This also tends to encompass Optics and Optical engineering - biomedical optics, imaging and related medical devices.
• Mechanical engineering - often associated with biomechanics, bio transport, medical devices, and modeling of biological systems, like soft tissue mechanics.

Genetic engineering

Genetic engineering, recombinant DNA technology, genetic modification/manipulation (GM) and gene splicing are terms that apply to the direct manipulation of an organism's genes. Genetic engineering is different from traditional breeding, where the organism's genes are manipulated indirectly. Genetic engineering uses the techniques of molecular cloning and transformation to alter the structure and characteristics of genes directly. Genetic engineering techniques have found success in numerous applications. Some examples are in improving crop technology (not a medical application per se; see BioSystems Engineering), the manufacture of synthetic human insulin through the use of modified bacteria, the manufacture of erythropoietin in hamster ovary cells, and the production of new types of experimental mice such as the oncomouse (cancer mouse) for research.

Neural engineering

Neural engineering (also known as Neuroengineering) is a discipline that uses engineering techniques to understand, repair, replace, or enhance neural systems. Neural engineers are uniquely qualified to solve design problems at the interface of living neural tissue and non-living constructs.

Pharmaceutical engineering

Pharmaceutical Engineering is sometimes regarded as a branch of biomedical engineering, and sometimes a branch of chemical engineering; in practice, it is very much a hybrid sub-discipline (as many BME fields are). Aside from those pharmaceutical products directly incorporating biological agents or materials, even developing chemical drugs is considered to require substantial BME knowledge due to the physiological interactions inherent to such products' usage. With the increasing prevalence of "combination products," the lines are now blurring among healthcare products such as drugs, biologics, and various types of devices.