Engineering…..
There are so many kinds of engineering fields out there from aerospace engineering to civil engineering. However, there is a discipline of engineering that spans biology to mathematics to computer science: biomedical engineering.
In general, biomedical engineering uses engineering to answer some of the world’s prominent health care issues. Biomedical Engineering can range from medical devices, including highly advanced prosthetics to gene therapy. Unlike its counterpart bioengineering which can be used for any bio systems, biomedical engineering solely uses engineering for health care. Most bioengineers’ responsibilities are “to design medical devices, such as pacemakers or artificial limbs; repair and install medical devices and equipment; conduct original resources into existing biomedical devices and biological processes; and train medical professionals in the use of new experiments” (coursera). Many biomedical engineers will go into industry to work on developing devices, graduate school to pursue research in the field, or go into medicine.
There are many different specializations one can go into whilst going into biomedical engineering research. The four main common fields are medical devices, protein and cellular engineering, biomedical instrumentation and imaging , biomechanics, and computational and systems biology.
Biomedical engineers use “their skills and training to invent, design, test, and manufacture medical devices” (BMES). This can include orthopedic implants such as screws used when getting a tooth implant or a cochlear implant. Pacemakers are another example of a biomedical device which keeps the heart beating. Medical devices can range from something simple such as surgical instruments or something complex such as defibrillators or implanted prosthetics.
In Protein and cellular engineering, biomedical engineers “alter, design, and synthesize protein molecules for new and specialized uses, both to explore biology and to exploit new therapeutic opportunities” (UCSF). All this field means is where engineering and life science are applied to the molecular level. This field is mostly researched by those working to advance gene therapy which uses gene editing to cure genetic diseases. By engineering the protein or cell, scientists get to manipulate the protein’s structure and processes, leading them to carry out new tasks.
Bioinstrumentation and imaging may sound like a mouthful, but all it does is to efficiently visualize the body. In bioinstrumentation, “researchers develop new methods to read, interpret and respond to the body’s electrical, chemical and mechanical signals, providing clues to disease processes and responses to therapy” ( MAYO). Biomedical imaging is when researchers develop new ways to “noninvasively visualize the body's structure and function, from individual cells to entire organs, to enhance care for patients with a wide variety of diseases” (MAYO). Bioinstrumentation can include a heart rate monitor which is used to read and display the heart rate and signals or a glucometer which measures the body’s glucose. Bioinstrumentation has the goals to “measure, evaluate, and treat biological systems' ' (ScienceDirect). Biomedical imaging contains all the things used to holistically visualize the body. Ultrasounds, X-Rays, and MRI’s are a part of medical imaging. Many researchers are continuing work on these imaging techniques to improve them.
Computational and systems biology truly embodies the word interdisciplinary. Computer science and artificial engineering is used to make quantitative predictions regarding issues in biological systems. Biomedical Engineers use experimental data and develop a model for it to predict the results. An example of this would be the rate of tumor growth or gene mapping and which gene is causing the disease.
Those are the four main focuses of biomedical engineering, but there are still so many others beyond these focuses that captivate the minds of researchers, engineers, and physicians daily. Biomedical engineering holds the potential to truly make a direct impact on society as shown throughout the article. Many people’s lives have been saved or improved due to the advancements in BME and the skills and knowledge of the engineers.
Sources:
https://www.mayo.edu/research/departments-divisions/department-physiology-biomedical-engin eering/research/focus-areas
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/bioinstrumentation#:~:text=Bioinstrumentation %20or%20biomedical%20instrumentation%20is,evaluate%2C%20and%20treat%20biological% 20systems.
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