Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
2.1a
Chapter 2.1a
Modeling biosystems
Stanley M. Dunn, Alkis Constantinides, and Prabhas Moghe
2.1a.1 Biomedical engineering
engineers who focus on problems in biology and the re-
lationship between biological and physiological systems.
Clinical engineering is a term used to refer to biomedical
engineers who solve problems related to the clinical aspects
of healthcare delivery systems and patient care. Tissue
engineering is the subspecialty in which engineering is used
to design and create tissues and devices to replace struc-
tures with lost or impaired function. Tissue engineers use
a combination of cells, engineering materials, and suitable
biochemical factors to improve or replace biological func-
tions in an effort to effect the advancement of medicine.
Although the most visible contributions of BME to
clinical practice involve instrumentation for diagnosis,
therapy, and rehabilitation, there are examples in this
text drawn from both the biological and the medical
arenas to show the wide variety of problems that bio-
medical engineers can and do work on.
The field of BME is rapidly expanding. Biomedical
engineers will play a major role in research in the life sci-
ences and development of devices for efficient delivery of
healthcare. The scope of BME ranges from bionano-
technology to assistive devices, from molecular and cel-
lular engineering to surgical robotics, and from
neuromuscular systems to artificial lungs. The principles
presented in this text will help prepare biomedical engi-
neers to work in this diverse field.
There are a number of good histories of BME each has
its own beginning date of the field and the significant
milestones. The beginning of BME can be traced to either
the 17
th
,18
th
,or19
th
century, the choice depending on
the definition used for BME. The reader is referred to
Nebeker (2002)
for a comprehensive history of how
biomedical engineers build diagnostic (data that charac-
terizes the system) or therapeutic (replace or enhance
Biomedical Engineering
(BME) is the branch of engi-
neering that is concerned with solving problems in biology
and medicine. This text is an introduction to
Numerical
Methods
for biomedical engineers. Numerical methods
are mathematical techniques for performing accurate,
efficient and stable computation, by computer, to solve
mathematical models of biomedical systems. Numerical
methods are the tools engineers use to realize computer
implementation of analytic models of system behavior.
Biomedical engineers use principles, methods, and ap-
proaches drawn from the more traditional branches of
electrical, mechanical, chemical, materials, and computer
engineering to solve this wide range of problems. These
methods include: principles of Electrical Engineering, such
as circuits and systems; imaging and image processing; in-
strumentation and measurements; and sensors. The princi-
ples from Mechanical Engineering include fluid and solid
mechanics; heat transfer; robotics and automation; and
thermodynamics. Principles from Chemical Engineering
include transport phenomena; polymers and materials; bio-
technology; drug design; and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Biomedical engineers apply these and other principles
to problems in the life sciences and healthcare fields.
That means the biomedical engineer must also be fa-
miliar with biological concepts of anatomy and physiol-
ogy at the system, cellular, and molecular levels. Working
in healthcare requires familiarity with the cardiovascular
system, the nervous system, respiration, circulation,
kidneys, and body fluids.
Other terms, such as bioengineering, clinical engineer-
ing, and tissue engineering, are used to identify subgroups of
biomedical engineers. Bioengineering refers to biomedical
