Biomedical engineering is a discipline that encompasses engineering field and medical field in order to solve pertinent problems. It bridges the gap between medicine and engineering. The products of this endeavour include the design and development of therapeutic and diagnostic devices, prostheses, imaging equipment such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) etc. The field of biomedical engineering thus has three main specialization areas which are (i) biomechanics, (ii) tissue and cellular engineering and (iii) imaging. These specialization areas are explained further in the following sections of this paper.
i. Biomechanics
Biomechanics is the study of mechanics in the human body (Nagavani, 1). Biomechanics entails applying the techniques and methods of mechanics to the study of the structure and function of biological systems in plants and animals. This discipline is very closely related to engineering as engineering principles are applied in the study of the biological systems. This use of engineering makes it easier to solve the complexity involved in understanding biological systems. A number of subfields have emerged from the field of biomechanics. Some of these subfields include Plant biomechanics, which is the application of the principles of biomechanics to plants; comparative biomechanics, which deals with the application of biomechanics to gain an understanding into the functions, adaptations and ecology of non-human organisms especially in order to gain better understanding of humans. Sports biomechanics also helps in understanding athletic performance by studying human movement using the laws of mechanics, and helps reduce sports injuries. It also involves the design and development of prostheses to replace damaged or missing limbs.
ii. Tissue and cellular engineering
Tissue engineering is used to replace biological functions in living organisms through the use of cells and a combination of engineering materials and methods. New tissues are created in this case to repair damaged tissues or replace tissues in living organisms either totally or partially. The tissues are designed to accommodate structural and mechanical properties in order to function properly. Cellular engineering involves creating systems that will perform specific biochemical functions with the use of cells from artificially created systems.
The process of culturing tissues is an extensive one that involves promoting the growth and survival of the tissues as well as induces functionality for the tissue by preserving all the basic things that a cell requires for survival. These basic requirements include pH level, nutrients, osmotic pressure balance, temperature and oxygen availability. All these factors have to be considered and these conditions have to be met during the process of tissue engineering.
In cell and tissue engineering, cells form the basic building blocks of the materials used in the creation of tissues. The functionality desired will determine the type of cell to be used. There are thus a number of different types of cells from which a choice can be made. These include isogenic cells obtained from identical organisms, stem cells which are undifferentiated cells with the capability to divide into specialized cells, allogeneic cells which are obtained from the bodies of donors of the same species.
iii. Imaging
Imaging technologies involve the use of radiation or magnetic fields to visualize internal organs and structures of the body to investigate the shape, orientation, size of these organs. X-ray is one of the oldest forms of imaging used to investigate bones and other similar organs of the body using radioactive materials. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) makes use of magnetic fields and radio pulses to provide visualization through a computer of almost all the internal organs of the body (Haidekker, 68). Computed Tomography (CT) technology also produces images of internal organs of the body using X-ray technology. The images are taken from different angles and displayed on a computer screen.
Conclusion
The field of biomedical engineering is quite an encompassing one with the different sub-fields or specialization possible aimed at solving wide ranging number of medical problems using engineering techniques.
Works Cited
Nagavani, C. “Textbook of Biomechanics and Exercise Therapy”. Susruta College of Physiotherapy Dilshuknagar, Hyderabad n.d. Web. 30 March, 2016.
Mark A. Haidekker. "Medical Imaging Technology" Springer Link, ISBN 978-1-4614-7072-4 2013. Print.
