Biomedical engineering is a discipline involving advancing knowledge in engineering, biology, medicine, and human health. It combines engineering with biomedical sciences and clinical practice.
In biomedical engineering, there have been many advancements. At Duke University Medical Center: The Preston Robert Risch Brain Tumor Center, there have been promises for the development of an oncolytic or cancer-fighting virus. This oncolytic virus is a genetically engineered poliovirus (PVS-RIPO), and it is currently in phase I clinical trials to treat recurrent glioblastoma brain tumors. How it works is that the PVS-RIPO is infused directly into the patient’s tumor, where it then infects and kills tumor cells, while recruiting the patient’s immune responses against cancer. It is unknown, however, why and how the immune system attacks tumors infused with PVS-RIPO, when otherwise they do not attack the tumor. Unravelling how and why is the research goal of the Gromeir Laboratory.
There are also advancements in biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, where they are doing research into mind-controlled prosthetic limbs. They have developed one limb already, which worked successfully on a woman. There are three key elements in how these mind-controlled prosthetic limbs work, being modular prosthetic limb, neural interface with signal processing and control algorithms, and virtual integration environment. The modular prosthetic limb involves a prosthetic with controllable dexterity and sensors, while the virtual integration environment allows communication with the limb. The neural interface was the most challenging part of building a mind-controlled prosthetic, as it involves directly interfacing the nervous system with control of the limb and sensory feedback. These three things combined help to make a new, innovative prosthetic as one of the promises of biomedical engineering.
If you are interested in helping to develop any of these technologies or making advancements in another region of bioengineering, perhaps you could look to a job in this field in the future. In order to become a biomedical engineer, most earn a bachelor’s degree from an accredited school in biomedical engineering or bioengineering. The median salary of a biomedical engineer is about $86,220.
The daily activities of a biomedical engineer revolve around the design process. As a biomedical engineer, one works to design innovative equipment and devices. They then work with scientists in order to research the engineering aspects of the body systems of humans and animals. Following this, biomedical engineers look at how to design equipment that can be used by the human body successfully, such as through the neural interface of the prosthetic. After designing the device, bioengineers then design electrical currents in order to the run the medical equipment, or they can use a computer simulation to test the equipment.
After completing design and research of the innovative equipment and device, bioengineers will work on the installation and maintenance of biomedical devices. After completing all research, engineers will prepare procedures and write reports based on their findings in order to report it to scientists, clinicians, and other professionals. Bioengineers are also responsible for training clinicians on the proper use of the equipment.
Although biomedical engineering may seem as though it involves lots of research, design, and presentations, this is not a drawback. It in fact means that no day at work would be the same, keeping each day unique and interesting.
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