Biomedical Engineering: Bridging Medicine and Technology

Book Preface

The field of biomedical engineering has expanded markedly in the past ten years. This growth is supported by advances in biological science, which have created new opportunities for development of tools for diagnosis of and therapy for human disease. This book is designed as a textbook for an introductory course in biomedical engineering. The text was written to be accessible for most entering college students. In short, the book presents some of the basic science knowledge used by biomedical engineers and illustrates the first steps in applying this knowledge to solve problems in human medicine.

Biomedical engineering now encompasses a range of fields of specialization including bioinstrumentation, bioimaging, biomechanics, biomaterials, and biomolecular engineering. Most undergraduate students majoring in biomedical engineering are faced with a decision, early in their program of study, regarding the field in which they would like to specialize. Each chosen specialty has a specific set of course requirements and is supplemented by wise selection of elective and supporting coursework. Also, many young students of biomedical engineering use independent research projects as a source of inspiration and preparation but have difficulty identifying research areas that are right for them. Therefore, a second goal of this book is to link knowledge of basic science and engineering to fields of specialization and current research.

As a general introduction to the field, this textbook assembles foundational resources from molecular and cellular biology and physiology and relates this science to various subspecialties of biomedical engineering. The first two parts of the book present basic information in molecular/cellular biology and human physiology; quantitative concepts are stressed in these sections. Comprehension of these basic life science principles provides the context in which biomedical engineers interact. The third part of the book introduces the subspecialties in biomedical engineering and emphasizes—through examples and profiles of people in the field—the types of problems biomedical engineers solve. Organization of the chapters into these three major parts allows course instructors and students to customize their usage of some or all of the chapters depending on the background of the students and the availability of other course offerings in the curriculum.

Contents

1 Introduction: What Is Biomedical Engineering?

PART 1. MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR PRINCIPLES

2 Biomolecular Principles

3 Biomolecular Principles: Nucleic Acids

4 Biomolecular Principles: Proteins

5 Cellular Principles

PART 2. PHYSIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES

6 Communication Systems in the Body

7 Engineering Balances: Respiration and Digestion

8 Circulation

9 Removal of Molecules from the Body

PART 3. BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

10 Biomechanics

11 Bioinstrumentation

12 Bioimaging

13 Biomolecular Engineering I: Biotechnology

14 Biomolecular Engineering II: Engineering of Immunity

15 Biomaterials and Artificial Organs

16 Biomedical Engineering and Cancer