Ever had an X-ray? Walked on a treadmill or lounged on a semi-recumbent bike? Worn a fitness tracker on your wrist? If so, you have enjoyed the fruits of biomedical engineering. We think it’s high time this comparatively new field of engineering received some time in the spotlight. That’s why we’re launching a miniseries of […]
Ever had an X-ray? Walked on a treadmill or lounged on a semi-recumbent bike? Worn a fitness tracker on your wrist?
If so, you have enjoyed the fruits of biomedical engineering.
We think it’s high time this comparatively new field of engineering received some time in the spotlight. That’s why we’re launching a miniseries of posts on biomedical engineering, and today, we’re starting with some basics.
Hopefully, by the end of the series, you’ll feel inspired to take on a design challenge on par with Iron Man’s newest exo-suit. Let’s get started.
Biomedical engineering (BME) applies engineering principles to the fields of biology and medicine with the end goal of improving patient care, diagnosis, and treatment. It’s an incredibly broad field covering areas, such as:
And that’s really just scratching the surface.
Ultimately, no matter what subfield a biomedical engineer practices in, the engineering principles are the same. You can’t change physics, after all—just apply them to particular situations, whether that’s developing a vehicle or a medical device.
A better question might be, what don’t biomedical engineers do? It’s why biomedical engineers used to be considered jacks of all trades, even though this has been changing recently with universities offering BME-specific degree programs and professional specializations. Any biomedical engineer is likely to have a diverse, multidisciplinary background from life sciences and physiology to electrical, mechanical, and chemical engineering.
Despite the reigning stereotype of the engineer getting caught up in details, measurements, and calculations, what a biomedical engineer really does is make people’s lives easier. They have to think about individual needs and end-user pain points.
A BME is familiar with the needs of various stakeholders—the product design team, the manufacturing team, the FDA, a swath of different end users, even marketing and business interests. Because of this, they tend to be pretty darn good at bridging communication gaps between all these stakeholders. In the end, they need to ensure the product addresses the problem statement and meets all the necessary requirements and regulations.
Take a medical device, for example. A biomedical engineer has to consider several different end users—typically a hospital, a doctor or nurse, and/or a patient. Keeping these stakeholders in mind during the design process, the engineer will balance cost, ease of use, security, and comfort. It all falls under the umbrella of human-centered design (which we’ll focus more on in our next post).
At Treetown Tech, we have a top-notch team of engineers with backgrounds and practical experience in software development, mechanical, and electrical engineering. We’re looking forward to applying our expertise and expanding further into medical device, human factor/ergonomic, and mechatronic spaces.
A field as diverse as biomedical engineering calls for deeper dives into all sorts of nitty-gritty details. Stay tuned for our next post on Human-Centered Design—basically, designing with real humans in mind for experience, use, and safety.
In the meantime, if you’re looking to kick around a BME project idea, reach out to our experts today.
You have the vision. We have the team and expertise to get it built. Let's collaborate to innovate, problem-solve, and de-risk every step of the way.
