Biomedical

Biomedical engineering is the application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical field. This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine: It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to improve healthcare diagnosis, monitoring and therapy.

Biomedical engineering has only recently emerged as its own discipline, compared to many other engineering fields; such an evolution is common as a new field transitions from being an interdisciplinary specialization among already-established fields, to being considered a field in itself. Much of the work in biomedical engineering consists of research and development, spanning a broad array of subfields (see below). Prominent biomedical engineering applications include the development of biocompatible prostheses, various diagnostic and therapeutic medical devices ranging from clinical equipment to micro-implants, common imaging equipment such as MRIs and EEGs, biotechnologies such as regenerative tissue growth, and pharmaceutical drugs and biopharmaceuticals.

Biomedical engineering is a highly interdisciplinary field, influenced by (and overlapping with) various other engineering and medical fields. This often happens with newer disciplines, as they gradually emerge in their own right after evolving from special applications of extant disciplines. Due to this diversity, it is typical for a biomedical engineer to focus on a particular subfield or group of related subfields. There are many different taxonomic breakdowns within BME, as well as varying views about how best to organize them and manage any internal overlap; the main U.S. organization devoted to BME divides the major specialty areas as follows:

Biomechatronics

Bioinstrumentation

Biomaterials

Biomechanics

Bionics

Cellular, Tissue, and Genetic Engineering

Clinical Engineering

Medical Imaging

Orthopaedic Bioengineering

Rehabilitation engineering

Systems Physiology

Bionanotechnology

Neural Engineering

Sometimes, disciplines within BME are classified by their association(s) with other, more established engineering fields, which can include:

Chemical engineering - often associated with biochemical, cellular, molecular and tissue engineering, biomaterials, and biotransport.

Electrical engineering - often associated with bioelectrical and neural engineering, bioinstrumentation, biomedical imaging, and medical devices. This also tends to encompass Optics and Optical engineering - biomedical optics, imaging and related medical devices.

Mechanical engineering - often associated with biomechanics, biotransport, medical devices, and modeling of biological systems, like soft tissue mechanics.

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