Biomedical Engineering

Provides students with the skills necessary to engage in meaningful engineering design, and focuses on the latter stages of the engineering design process - detailed design, prototyping, and evaluation. Students develop skills in computer assisted design, embedded controls, prototyping, analysis and teamwork. A major focus of the class is the execution of a design project. Prerequisites: PHYS 1425, and BME major or minor. Recommended Corequisite: PHYS 2415 or ECE 2200.

You will learn how excitable tissue, nerves and muscle, and the cardiovascular and respiratory systems function. You will develop an understanding of mechanisms, with an introduction to structure, an emphasis on quantitative analysis, and integration of hormonal and neural regulation and control. Prerequisites: (PHYS 1425 or PHYS 1420 or PHYS 1710) AND (APMA 1110 or MATH 1320) AND (CHEM 1410 or CHEM 1610 or CHEM 1810) AND BME Major or Minor

Introduces the physiology of the kidney, salt and water balance, gastrointestinal system, endocrine system, and central nervous system, with reference to diseases and their pathophysiology. Prerequisite: (CHEM 1410 or CHEM 1610 or CHEM 1810) AND (PHYS 1425 or PHYS 1420 or PHYS 1710) AND BME 2101, or instructor permission.

Intro to fundamentals of cell structure and function, emphasizing the techniques and technologies available for the study of cell biology. Content includes cell structure and function; energy flow in cells; information flow in cells focuses on modern molecular biology and genetic engineering, and includes DNA replication, the cell cycle, gene expression, gene regulation, and protein synthesis. Prerequisite: CHEM 1410 or CHEM 1610 or CHEM 1810 or instructor permission.

Introduces principles of continuum mechanics of biological tissues & systems. 1) Review results used in biomechanics field, 2) properties of living tissue; 3) mechanical basis & effects of pathology & trauma: 4) intro to mechanotransduction, circulatory transport, growth & remodeling & tissue-engineered materials; 5) low Reynolds number flows in vivo & microsystems. Prerequisites: APMA 2120 or MATH 2310 or MATH 2315 and BME Major or Minor

Discover how computation drives innovation in human health. Learn programming, numerical methods & AI tools to analyze and model real biomedical data. Work in teams to generate solutions for Alzheimer¿s disease, cancer, lung disease & infectious disease while developing communication & project management skills. Gain practical, employable computational tools used across biotech, pharma, research & medicine. Prereq: CS 111X. Co-reqs: APMA 2120 or MATH 2310/2315 or instructor permission.

Project-driven course focusing on biomedical product design with emphasis on marketability, innovation, entrepreneurship and business. Topics include design fundamentals, problem/needs identification, delineation of realistic constraints and product specifications, intellectual property, market analysis, entrepreneurship, specific advanced design, business plan development, venture funding, and medical product testing methods. Pre-requisite: BME 2000 or instructor permission.

A year-long integrative course to formulate and solve problems in biomedical systems, including experimental design, performance and analysis. Testing in tissues/cells & manipulation of molecular constituents to determine structural and functional characteristics for design of therapeutic or measurement systems. Methods incl biochemical, physiological, cell biology, mechanical, electrical and computer, systems, chemical, imaging, and other approaches. Prereq: 3rd & 4th Year BME 

Introduces principles and application of fluid and mass transport processes in cell, tissue and organ systems. Topics include intro to physiological fluid mechanics in the circulation and tissue, fundamentals of mass transport in biological systems, effects of mass transport and biochemical interactions at the cell and tissue scales and fluid and mass transport in organs. Prerequisites: APMA 2130 or MATH 3250, or APMA 2501 - Differential Equations & Linear Algebra, and BME 2101, and BME 2104, or instructor permission.

Presents analytical tools used to model signals & linear systems. BME examples include multicompartment modeling of drug delivery, modeling of dynamic biomechanical systems & electrical circuit models of excitable cells. Topics: signals & systems, convolution, continuous time Fourier transforms, electrical circuits & applications of linear system theory. Prerequisite: PHYS 2415 & APMA 2130, & CS 1110 or equivalent

A year-long design project required for BME majors. Students select, formulate, and solve a design problem related to a device or a system. Projects use conceptual design, skills obtained in the integrated lab and substantial literature and patent reviews. Projects are sponsored by faculty, physicians and/or companies. Students may work on their own with outside team members when appropriate or with other students in integrative teams. Prerequisite: 4th year standing in the Biomedical Engineering major or instructor permission.

How does a single fertilized egg grow and divide into every cell in the body, from branching neurons to beating cardiomyocytes and everything in between? Can we harness this knowledge to better understand disease, and to produce therapeutically relevant cell types, tissues, and organs? You will explore what controls stem cell differentiation using hands-on experiments, with emphasis on methods to engineer cell fate for regenerative medicine. Prerequisite: BME 2104

Intro to systems-level measurement techniques for capturing molecular information and the mathematical and computational methods for harnessing the information from these measurements to improve our understanding of cell physiology and disease. Practical implementation of the concepts in MATLAB or Python will be applied to existing, real data from published journal articles. Pre-requisites: APMA 3100 or APMA 3110, BME 2104, BME 2315, and CS 1110 or CS 1111 or CS 1112

We will learn to bridge the gap between the fields of bioengineering and the science of how drugs interact with biological systems, i.e., Pharmacology, including the principles of biochemical reaction kinetics and engineering; how such principles can help us describe, model, predict and modulate the outcome of biochemical reactions in cells and biological reactors, and apply these principles to the understanding of pharmacological phenomena. Prerequisites: BME 2104 AND APMA 2130

Introduces biomaterials science and biological interactions with materials with overview of biomaterials testing (in vitro and in vivo) and characterization. Emphasis on emerging novel strategies and design of biomaterials. Areas of concentration include polymers and ceramics in biomaterials, drug delivery, tissue engineering (orthopaedic and vascular) and nanotechnology. Prerequisite: BME 2101, BME 2104, or instructor permission.

Applies engineering science, design methods, and system analysis to developing areas and current problems in biomedical engineering. Topics vary by semester. Recent topics include Medical Imaging Systems Theory, BME Advanced Design, BME Electronics Lab, and Systems Biology Modeling and Experimentation. Prerequisite: third- or fourth-year standing or instructor permission.

Provides a grounding in molecular biology and a working knowledge of recombinant DNA technology, thus establishing a basis for the evaluation and application of genetic engineering in whole animal systems. Beginning with the basic principles of genetics, this course examines the use of molecular methods to study gene expression, deliver viral and non-viral vectors, and its critical role in health. Prerequisite: BME 2101. Co-requisites: BME 2104.

A year-long research project in biomedical engineering conducted in consultation with a department faculty advisor; usually related to ongoing faculty research. Includes the design, execution, and analysis of experimental laboratory work and computational or theoretical computer analysis of a problem. Requires a comprehensive report of the results. Prerequisite: third- or fourth-year standing, and instructor permission.

Students learn foundational concepts about cellular behaviors and the molecular mechanisms that drive them by communicating findings that are published in peer-reviewed scientific and engineering papers. Prereqs: coursework in Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Human Physiology/Pathology/Anatomy

This course presents organ physiology and pathology as systems that can be studied, measured, and manipulated using biomedical engineering tools and approaches by reading peer-reviewed scientific and engineering papers and discussing them in class. Prereq: knowledge of Biochem, Cell Biology, Human Physiology/Pathology/Anatomy

Students learn how to process imperfect biomedical measurements and extract information. Students learn fundamental principles of signal and image processing and machine learning. Prerequisites: Ability to program in MATLAB or Python. Knowledge of calculus, vectors and matrices

Students learn principles and techniques to computationally approach biomedical research and practice. Students obtain hands-on experience using computational thinking/strategy and build computational models to describe biomedical phenomena or analyze biomedical data. Prereq: BME 6001-6004 and ability in MATLAB or Python.

A project-based grounding in biomedical product design, with emphasis on clinical immersion and topics including design fundamentals, problem/needs identification, delineation of realistic constraints and product specifications, intellectual property, market analysis, entrepreneurship, specific advanced design topics, business plan development, venture funding, and medical product testing methods. Prerequisite: Instructor Permission

A professional development course for biomedical engineering graduate students.

Applies engineering science, design methods, and system analysis to developing areas and current problems in biomedical engineering. Topics vary by semester.