Emphasis areas/sub-plans

Students in the BBmE program are strongly encouraged to choose an emphasis area/sub-plan spring of their junior year, so they can take one of their Engineering and Science Electives that semester, as suggested in the BBmE four-year plan.

We currently offer nine emphasis areas/sub-plans in our program.

Bioelectricity and Bioinstrumentation (BEI)

BEI seeks to record, process, image, and control biomedical signals and to develop instrumentation for biological research and medical applications. Specific examples of bioelectricity and instrumentation include:

• Cardiac pacemakers.
• Brain-computer interfaces that link the brain to the environment.
• Magnetic resonance imaging systems.

Biomaterials

Students in the Biomaterials emphasis area/sub-plan are expected to:

• Become acquainted with the general principles of designing, synthesizing, processing, and characterizing biomaterials.
• Learn to use biomaterials to solve problems in biology and medicine.

Courses on life science, fundamentals of materials science and engineering, and interactions between materials and living elements are relevant.

Biomechanics

Biomechanics is the study of motion and the forces that produce motion in biological systems. The biomechanics sub-plan includes mechanics of tissues and biomaterials, whole body kinematics, and biomechanical design. This subplan prepares students to work on tissue mechanics problems, mechanical aspects of biomaterials selection, design of mechanical systems for biomedical use and to understand the dynamics of large scale motions.

Biomedical Transport Processes (BTP)

Biomedical Transport Process involves three fundamental processes: momentum transfer, mass transfer, and heat transfer. They share similar biophysical and mathematical descriptions. 

Momentum transfer underlies flow fluid in the subject known as fluid mechanics. Applications of fluid mechanics in BME range from predicting blood flow in vessels, to flow of samples in “lab on chip” microfluidic systems, to flow of cell culture medium through tissue engineered cartilage in bioreactors. 

Mass and heat transfer refer to the ability to deliver molecule “and energy” respectively, from a source to a target. Applications of mass and heat transfer range from predicting blood oxygenation rates in capillaries from oxygen in lung alveoli and in hollow fibers from pure oxygen gas in “heart lung machines,” to movement of mRNA generated in the cell nucleus to cytoplasmic ribosomes. 

BTP is highly mathematical and computational in nature, since the basis of making such predictions is formulating and solving the equations that govern momentum, mass, and energy balances. As suggested in the above applications, BTP is relevant in almost every physiological / cellular process and almost all medical devices.

Cell and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE)

In Cell and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE), we take advantage of natural biological processes to advance industrial biotechnologies. For example, by harnessing the power of genetic manipulation, we can control cellular production of small molecules, enzymes (catalysts) and other biomolecules that can be used to treat disease and/or develop nanoscale medical devices.

Additionally, one desperate need is to improve approaches to discovering new drugs. So students in this emphasis area/sub-plan will be well positioned to pursue graduate work and ultimately a career in the pharmaceutical industry.

For this emphasis area/sub-plan, we very strongly encourage students to complete the Organic Chemistry sequence (Organic I and II, along with Organic Lab). Students are also strongly encouraged to take Chemical Engineering courses (Reaction Kinetics and Reactor Engineering as well as Biochemical Engineering). Finally, it's critical that students take advanced Lab courses, such as the Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Lab (BIOC 4125).

Cell and Tissue Engineering (CTE)

Students should be aware that there are relatively few bachelor’s degree level positions that directly relate to CTE. Rather, most of the positions in CTE tend to be filled by PhD level engineers, and so further study is usually required such as graduate or medical school. This sub-plan is useful preparation for that path.

Digital Health

The Digital Health emphasis area/sub-plan aims to prepare BME students to manage and analyze big data problems that face the medical industry. As medical health records are becoming digitized it provides the opportunity to use machine learning tools for medical discovery.  

Students will learn how to identifying disease biomarkers and traits that identify patients that are at risk for diseases and assess the best therapies suited to the patient’s needs. Students in this program will take machine learning and data management classes.

Medical Device Design

The medical device emphasis area/sub-plan covers an extreme range from implantable coronary artery stents to refrigerator-sized blood testers. Three main areas that students focus on are:

• Electronic devices (such as pacemakers, blood testers, etc.).
• Stimulation and monitoring (nerve stimulators, EKG’s).
• External medical devices (dialysis machines, blood testers, cardiac assist).

Neural Engineering

Neural Engineering uses engineering principles to understand how the brain works and develops new technology to interact and treat the brain. The curriculum for this emphasis area/sub-plan is designed to teach the basics of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology and the fundamentals of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, tinnitus, and epilepsy.

Students also develop engineering skills such as signal processing, image processing, instrumentation and computational modeling as well as electrode design, amplifier and filter design, brain machine interfaces, cochlear implants, and deep brain stimulation.