Application of BME in modern society EX: I Phone APP

       Since BME is such a broad and diverse industry, it can utilize various areas of engineering and medical science to benefit society.
     In modern times, BME has touched all area of technology and materials to benefit society in health care, one example is the use of I-Phone applications. According to the journal by EE- Evaluation Engineering, an I-Phone app measures the heart rate. This is an example of how technology and health care merge into one benefiting and preventing heart diseases and failures. This idea of phone applications has sparked ideas for a WPI ( Worcester  Polytechnic Institute) researcher.
         Biomedical Engineer, Ki Chon and his teams of WPI  Biomedical Engineering students have recently developed an application available in smart phones that is advanced and more reliable than recent applications that measure the heart beat. This application not only measures the heart rate, but also takes into account the heart rhythm, respiration rate, and blood oxygen saturation.  This app is first of many, of the application of BME in modern times using  modern technologies such as the I-phone.  The new application introduced by Ki Chon and his collegues, yields " vital signs as accurate as standard  medical monitors now in clinical use". 

"Hold the phone for vital signs." EE-Evaluation Engineering Nov. 2011: 6. General OneFile. Web. 27 Nov. 2011.

Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA272485999&v=2.1&u=browardcpsit&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w

Introduction to Bioengineering course MIT Session #1

            The introduction of the Online Course by MIT consisted of discussions concerning the components of engineering, science and technology as well as career paths and industries fr Biomedical Engineers. The instructor providing the lessons is Professor Douglas A. Lauffenburger, which is the co-director of the Division of Bioengineering and Environmental Health.  
        As Professor Lauffenburger states, engineering consists of 3 main components, which are: analysis, synthesis and design. Analysis is the act of studying systems in order to understand their function. While synthesis is the practical building of these systems under the process of analysis. When contributed together, both of these processes cooperate to the main goal of engineering. Lauffenburger later gives a lucid explanation on the interaction of several branches of science and their role on the several disciplines of Engineering. Lauffenburger  states that all engineering paths are based on a specific area of science, further explained by the various examples given, such as; Physics serving as a basis for civil,Mechanical and Electrical engineering or Chemistry as the basis for nuclear and chemical engineering.
        Lauffenburger states that the discipline of Biological and biomedical engineering is so broad that several of the engineering disciplines can focus on improving health and biological materials. At one end is biotechnology where it applies to diverse industries and to the development of health-related devices and pharmaceuticals. While another industry includes biomedical engineering, generally used in the health care setting.
           Another important aspect regarding the evolution of Biomedical engineering is mentioned in the first session of the MIT course. Biomedial engineering emerged around 50 years ago, at that time BM Engineers did not require much knowledge on biology due to the fact that Biology was not able to reach the means of analysis ans ynthesis aproach of engineering. Untill recently though, the the production of several imaging technologies for diagnosis requires mostly on physics  and the design of of replacement organs and limbs require knowledge on mechanics and material sciences.

History of how BME has benefit society ( artificial heart )

To further understand the essential question of how Biomedical Engineering can benefit the society of the world, it is critical for one to comprehend how biomedical engineering has benefited the past in History to juxtapose how it benefits society in today’s time. 

       One major key part of Biomedical Engineering is the idea of having a replacement organ, a well-known component of Biomedical engineering that has benefited society. I will use the example of the artificial heart, to assess the idea of how in history, biomedical engineering ( not considered BME back then) has benefited that society.   Thanks to a research paper conducted by a MIT student, I was able to conduct this research.

          The MIT research conducted provides the historical background of heart replacement and the artificial heart, a key example of how BME can help society.  According to this research, the early form of this transplant procedure was conducted during Ancient Egypt. Egyptian healers attached removed human skin to the faces of wounded Egyptian Warriors in order to improve the physical appearance. Since then though, the process of attaching an organ of the body has greatly evolved through history, One problem though, as time goes by, further demand of heart transplants increased and was greatly recognized throughout the medical community.  Due to this recognition, increased demand, and not to mention vast increased in technology, more and more engineers have become interested to sort of “meddle” with medicine and attempt to create suitable organ replacements. 

          The earliest form of an artificial heart is known to be the work of Dr. William Kolff, from the University Of Utah Medical School. In the late fifties, Dr. Kolff transplanted an early form of an artificial heart to his dog, the canine died after only an hour and a half after the procedure. During the early 70s, Robert K. Jarvik managed to create the first human artificial heart.  The Jarvik 7, an improved version of his original work was crated four years later and approved by the Medical community for Human Transplant. To this day, further advancements are currently being done.

    This information presented, accurately helps me understand how historically, early forms of BME have benefited society and influenced the modern and striving discipline of BME today.  As stated by the MIT journal,

     “Today estimates Suggest that although 35, 000 Americans could benefit from a heart transplant, less than 4,000 actually place themselves on the waiting list. Given that 2,2oo hearts are donated per year, many Americans spend months, years and even die before replacement organs are made available to them. Although patients who do receive replacement hearts consider themselves fortunate, they can not escape the many problems that are linked to the use of donor organs, such as tissue rejection, inflection, and long time compatibility” ( Wang).

Wang , Jiao. "A Suitable replacement Citation." MIT. (2006): n. page. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. <http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/biological-engineering/20-010j-introduction-to-bioengineering-be-010j-spring-2006/assignments/wang_paper_final.pdf>.

MIT Open University Bioengineering Course

       To further indulge myself and educate myself on Biomedical engineering, I would begin to participate on open courses courtesy of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology via online. This course will greatly edify my knowledge and will be used as an essential step in further applying the knowledge and research into the final work. The MIT open University course is a thirteen session lesson with an assignment of a 5 page research paper due at the end of the curriculum.
    
          Lauffenburger, Douglas, Paul T. Matsudaira, Biological Engineering Faculty, and Angela M. Belcher. 20.010J Introduction to Bioengineering (BE.010J), Spring 2006. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare), http://ocw.mit.edu (Accessed 19 Nov, 2011). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

The Evolution of BME as its own discipline

      BME is a very unique career in the sense that it applies more than one academic field to solve one objective, the improvemnet of healthcare and human lifestyle.  Biomedical engineering has recently evolved as its own discipline in the 21st century. In fact, according to bmecentral.com, researchers have only recently started to name the combination of engineering applications and health science as BME. In fact, the Biomedical Engineering Society was founded in Illinois on Febuary 1, 1968 (BMES).
        According to bmecentral.com, BME has evolved into one of the most important and fastest growing sectors of medical employment. Throughout the years, BME has evolved into several subbranches in order to fulfill several different needs. Several of these divisions of BME are; orthopaedic Bioengineering, bionanotechnology, tissue engineering, neural engineering and many more.  These speacilization within BME, have all been a consequence due to the many applications that BME has to offer.

What is exactly BME?

      This is the very question I had to answer myself  and in order to fully acknowledge it as the path I want to take and the Career I want take part in.  In fact, this very research is done as a passion and a way for me to further understand BME.
        Simply, BME is the application of implementing medical and health science knowledge into technology an engineering in order to acees new ways technology can benefit the human health. Biomedical engineering combines the mathematical critical thinking as well as the computational and engineering skills to improve health care, monitoring and diagnoses of illneses and diseases.
      Through the several upcoming posts, one will be able to have a vivd knowledge and understanding of what exactly BME consists of, skills and further information.         

BME (Biomedical Engineering)

Engineering and Medicine have been dominating careers as the essential areas needed to succeed. What happens though, when these two fields intertwine into one?

       Medicine,as we are all aware of is at the top right now as the one with the top salary. Engineering Career paths are also next on the list as the most employed. As different options and needs arise, new ideas and chances occur. Biomedical engineering is one career which offers the creative idea of merging these two areas into one. As well of benefiting the lifestyle of humanity as we know it.  Biomedical Engineering recently has become its own discipline, offering opportunities to everyone in these two paths.

             This blog will go over all the different subdivisions of biomedical engineering, touch over the history of biomedical engineering and answer one very essential question. The question going over the benefits that biomedical engineering has to offer to the world and society. This topic is one that interests me as well as all those who are interested in a career similar to this. This to me is very important, in that it is a path I want to take and study, hopefully my research answers some very important questions to those willing to dedicate their academic career to BME.