As one of the earliest and most famous research institutions in biomechanics and medical engineering in China, the Biomechanics Laboratory of Tsinghua University was established in 1979. On this basis, the Institute of Biomechanics and Medical Engineering (IBME) was founded in 2006. It has become a multidisciplinary research center dedicated to frontier research in biomechanics, biomimetics, and medical engineering.

As one of the internationally influential centers of biomechanics and medical engineering, IBME is aimed at conducting both fundamental research and medical applications. Currently, its research directions mainly include:

A.       Multiscale mechanics and biomimetics of biological materials;

B.       Mechanobiology of cells and biomacromolecules;

C.       Mechanics of soft matter, biological soft tissues and organs;

D.       Medical engineering and advanced biotechnologies.

Panorama of an experimental platform for multi-scale mechanical properties characterization of soft materials. The experimental platform can be used to characterize the mechanical properties (such as elasticity and viscoelasticity) of soft materials with Young's modulus between Pa and MPa at various scales (micro- nano to macro-scale).

PhD students are collecting newly fertilized zebrafish embryos, in order to undertake experiments about the function of biomechanical elements in the development of zebrafish.