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A look inside biomedical engineering at the university.
by Ben Cosgrove
A series of medical device breakthroughs by Professor C. Walton Lillehei and University alumnus Earl Bakken in the 1950s made Minnesota a hotbed of biomedical research and put local companies like St. Jude Medical and Medtronic on the biotechnology map.
The University played a crucial role in those early developments, and over the next four decades developed a reputation as an international leader in biomedical engineering research and education. In the 1970s, it introduced master's and doctoral programs in biomedical engineering. Biomedical engineering research flourished, drawing together faculty from across IT, the Medical School, and other colleges. In 1998, the University created the Department of Biomedical Engineering within IT. This fall, the department will introduce an innovative new program for undergraduates.
The new curriculum
The University's new undergraduate program includes a mix of traditional engineering courses (computer programming, materials science, heat transfer, statistics) along with biomedical course like physiology, bioelectricity, and biomedical transport processes. In addition to the core curriculum, students take additional courses in one of several areas of emphasis.
According to Associate Professor David Odde, director of undergraduate studies in biomedical engineering, the goal of this approach is to offer students a wide span of educational and practical learning environments and to encourage them to specialize in topics of personal interest.
Because graduates of the program will face the ethical and moral implications of new biological discoveries and biomedical advances, bioethics will play a key role in the new curriculum. Although it won't be the sole subject of any undergraduate course, instructors will include discussions of ethical research practices in sophomore and junior seminar courses and will let students apply them in laboratory and research experience.
The curriculum culminates with a sequence of senior design courses that allow students to apply their skills to clinical problems at the University or in local industry. Students in the program will also have opportunities to participate in faculty research throughout their undergraduate careers. Odde and his colleagues hope these experiences will expose students to research areas that may shape their future work in academia or industry.
The program also encourages students to participate in internships with local companies like Guidant, Medtronic, and 3M. The Twin Cities area has the largest concentration of biomedical industry in the nation, notes Professor Stanley Finkelstein, director of graduate studies in biomedical engineering. And it's growing faster here than in most other places across the nation. In fact, Minnesota's "Medical Alley" includes more than 600 biomedical technology firms.
University students have also organized a campus chapter of the Biomedical Engineering Society, which provides students with contacts and information including trips to local businesses, monthly meetings, newsletters, and annual events during which members share their research.
High demand
According to Odde, student interest prompted IT to develop the new program. Biomedical engineers are in high demand in today's job market, he says, and many students wish to prepare for a career in biomedical engineering that doesn't require a master's or doctoral degree.
Other students will enter the program to prepare for graduate study, says Finkelstein. To help those students, the department will offer a five-year B.S./M.S. program, in addition to the traditional four-year B.S. track. The University's graduate programs, which ranked 17th in the Princeton Review's most recent nationwide assessment of graduate programs in biomedical engineering, included 22 master's students and 40 doctoral students during the 1998-99 academic year. Demand for the new undergraduate program is so high that the college will limit admission to only 40 or 50 of the best students each year.
To apply for the program or to find out more about the admission requirements,
contact the IT admissions office at 612-624-8504.
@ FOR MORE INFO see www.bme.umn.edu or email studentaff@itdean.umn.edu
Applications of Biomedical Technology
Biomedical engineers develop devices, applications, and procedures that benefit the human body. With job titles that range from health care professional to technical advisor to research manager, biomedical engineers work in hospitals, government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, medical device manufacturers, and academic and private research facilities. Their innovations are frequently implemented in home-based or hospital-based health care.
Biomedical engineering encompasses several distinct fields:
Bioinstrumentation, the use of electronic and computer-based medical devices in diagnostic and treatment procedures, includes medical imaging, biosensors, and lasers. Medical imaging is performed in a variety of ways, depending on the type of data required. Current methods include ultrasound, x-ray, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computer-assisted tomography (CAT scans). Lasers are most often implemented for specific, delicate surgery procedures like eye surgery.
Biosensors are used to detect even the smallest amounts of information about the chemical environments of biological subjects, especially at the cellular level. The sensors are most often specialized cells or molecules that can detect oxygen, carbon dioxide, and pH levels, as well as other elements of blood chemistry.
Biomechanics, the use of mechanics in the realm of biological application, includes prosthetic fabrication, ergonomics, transportation and delivery of chemicals, and introduction of artificial functioning devices into the human body.
Prosthetic fabrication involves specialized synthetically created limbs. From simple pieces to complex devices with integrated circuitry, prosthetics may be customized for individual patients.
The goal of ergonomics is to make our living and working environments complementary to human biological structure and activity. Studies in ergonomics focus on how mechanical and structural aspects of the human body are affected in certain lifestyles and work environments.
The transportation and delivery of chemicals into specific regions of the human body is a much more complicated task than it first appears to be. The human body detests imbalance - especially from outside sources - and delivering drugs to the brain, for example, is very complicated.
Artificial functioning devices like pacemakers were among the first successes in biomedical engineering, but new developments are just as stunning. Today, artificial devices, from joints to arteries to heart valves to kidneys, are being used to extend the life span and productivity of patients.
Biomaterials are used in and implanted into the human body. They are often transplanted living human tissues or synthetic materials designed to fully function inside the human body. Like artificial organs, biomaterials must not deteriorate or disturb surrounding tissue. Researchers have tested a variety of synthetic substances - including ceramics, polymers, metal alloys, and composite materials - for use as biomaterials.
Systems physiology describes the quantitative and integrated strategies used to compile information and develop strategic methods of treatment and teaching. Researchers analyze living organisms and use the results to develop mathematical models and computer simulations. These techniques are especially useful for studying complicated feedback-controlled systems like metabolism that are virtually incomprehensible without detailed mathematical modeling.
Clinical engineering studies health care technologies in hospitals and medical centers to help medical professionals give their patients the best possible treatment. By analyzing the use of medical instruments, clinical engineers can work with individual physicians to allot and adapt devices and instrumentation to fit their unique needs. Clinical engineering helps keep physicians and other health care staff informed about new devices and technologies entering the market.
Rehabilitation engineering applies biology and engineering to the rehabilitation of patients. Rehabilitation engineers work with injured and disabled patients to develop personal and specialized treatment processes.
