Biomedical Engineering at U.A.

Thank you to Dr. Jennifer Barton at University of Arizona's BIO5 Center (Keating building)

Great presentation on Biomedical Engineering (BME).



Jennifer Barton
Head of Biomedical Engineering
Asst. Direcotr BIO5 Institute
(520)4116
barton@u.arizona.edu

Engineering - solve problems and build things
skills in math/physics

Bio Eng - biology and medicine
Directly and Positiveliy affect human health
Diverse
Multidisciplinary teams (doctors, physicians, physiologist, environmentalists)
Quantitative (Math)
Design-Driven

Doctors help thousands
BioEngs' help millions!!!

Electronics - mapping the brain and monitoring the body
Prosthetic devices - artificial legs / arms
Nuclear
…



Artificial knee - of bone - seat better - preventing infections - very sterile O.R. (stainless steel and teflon)
Stresses and loads, surgical techniques

Cochlear implants - help deaf people hear - bypass damaged parts of ear
tissue engineering - human ear grafted onto normal ear - used to grow ears.
Tissues are very robust. - Tissue Engineering making parts with real tissue

Synthetic Skin - for burn victims
Heart Valves
Deep brain stimulation to suppress tremors - current to portions of the brain.

Funny picture of Homer Simpson (MRI showing his tiny brain :-))

MRI - of skull and brain - see many folds in brain

Heart moves like wringing out a towel
Shows motion
Contrast agent placed in blood then a picture
AORTA - pipe to take blood from heart to rest of body - showed us an artificial aorta (big)

What do BME's do?
Reaseearch - new materials
Computer modeling
new diagnostic imaging systems

Most artificial hands are claws that are mechanically controlled
Scientists vs. Engineers -
Scientists in lab
Engineers have to take ideas from lab and make it so it is applicable to others - need light weight, low power, durable, etc.

Communication aids for the handicapped - moving with their eyes.

Top Acieve of 20th century
Imaging
Health Technologies

What do BME's do?
45% go on after undergrad to grad or PhD
Others go to Law or MBA (Business)
Jobs: Industry, Other, Academia, Consulting, Government (FDA)

BME Companies in Tucson:
Roche-Ventana Medical Sysetms
Sanofi-Aentis
SEBRA
SynCardia Systems
www.bio-sa.org and www.azbio.org
(also Raytheon and ??)


http://bme.engr.arizona.edu
http://bme.engr.arizona.edu/undergraduates/

Ventricular assist device - helps your heart (for emergency use)

Too many hamburgers or smoking
- plaque build up - snake in


She works on an imaging device - takes light and puts it into tissue and looks into
calous layer, sweat ducts