Preface

Summary

The field of biomedical engineering has expanded markedly in the past ten years. This growth is supported by advances in biological science, which have created new opportunities for development of tools for diagnosis of and therapy for human disease. This book is designed as a textbook for an introductory course in biomedical engineering. The text was written to be accessible for most entering college students. In short, the book presents some of the basic science knowledge used by biomedical engineers and illustrates the first steps in applying this knowledge to solve problems in human medicine.

Biomedical engineering now encompasses a range of fields of specialization including bioinstrumentation, bioimaging, biomechanics, biomaterials, and biomolecular engineering. Most undergraduate students majoring in biomedical engineering are faced with a decision, early in their program of study, regarding the field in which they would like to specialize. Each chosen specialty has a specific set of course requirements and is supplemented by wise selection of elective and supporting coursework. Also, many young students of biomedical engineering use independent research projects as a source of inspiration and preparation but have difficulty identifying research areas that are right for them. Therefore, a second goal of this book is to link knowledge of basic science and engineering to fields of specialization and current research.

As a general introduction to the field, this textbook assembles foundational resources from molecular and cellular biology and physiology and relates this science to various subspecialties of biomedical engineering.