Biomedical Manufacturing and Design Lab (BMDL)

Welcome to our lab website!  We strive to be the Leaders & Best in manufacturing research and education by providing innovative and multidisciplinary solutions for our partners.  Our foundation is science and engineering knowledge, dedication, diversity, and team spirit.  The lab is recognized as a  leader in biomedical manufacturing.  We have a rich tradition in partnership with researchers and clinicians in healthcare as well as with the medical device industry in research and education projects. 

Our core competency includes machining inside the blood vessels - atherectomy (plaque grinding) and mechanical thrombectomy (clot cutting and removal), additive manufacturing, custom orthotics and prosthetics, cyber design and additive manufacturing of custom assistive devices, soft tissue-mimicking materials, clinical simulators, and advanced medical devices.  Grinding, drilling and cutting of soft biomaterials are three machining processes that we have a long tradition of excellence and impacts in industry and healthcare.  Many of our inventions have been patented and licensed to start-ups and industry - making impacts to healthcare. 

The lab is devoted to innovations in manufacturing education, particularly on flipped classroom for manufacturing processes, video- enhanced pedagogy, freshman manufacturing and society course, and a textbook in machining.  Every summer, we sponsor several undergraduate and medical school students as research assistants in our lab.  We collaborate closely with Washtenaw Community College's Advanced Manufacturing Technology and have jointly developed a course in hands-on 3D-printing: MEC 120: 3D-Printing: Machine, Process, and Innovation.

Recent News

June 2023: Hansen's paper "Experiment and smooth particle hydrodynamic modeling of single-grain diamond scribing of silicon carbide fiber reinforced silicon carbide (SiCf/SiC)" published in CIRPAnnals-ManufacturingTechnology.

June 2023: Ruitao presented our work "Fused Filament Fabrication of Nylon beyond the Glass Transition Temperature in a Thermally-Insulated Machine" at NAMRC51 conference

May 2023: Welcome new SURE students: Lauren Monaghan & Madeline Deming !

April 2023: Graduating members & their next steps: Ruitao Su (Stanford), Austin Vensko (Ford), Su Sung Kim (UC Berkeley).

February 2023: U-M researchers helping to develop a machine for on-demand N95 mask manufacturing.

June 2021: Albert Shih named in SME's Top 20 Most Influential Academics Shaping Smart Manufacturing

More BMDL News