Bioengineering

Biomechanics, as a growing field of engineering, has many applications in the health and sport sectors. This broad field of study includes the design of artificial implants, the development of human tissues in the lab, the measurement of human movement and the detection and treatment of pathological conditions, the understanding of the performance of our muscles and how to employ it in sport, the diagnosis of injuries, the imaging of biological tissues and the detection of their pathological state, etc. In this course, the fundamental principles of biomechanics and their application to real life situations will be covered including: basic understanding of the application of mechanical principles in biology, understanding of anatomical and biomechanical terminology, application of biomechanical principles to human movement, basic understanding of the mechanical properties of biological tissues and the techniques used to determine them, and more recent advanced topics such as mechanics of cells, tissue imaging and tissue engineering. Participants should have successfully completed courses in engineering mechanics and materials science and possess knowledge on programming software.

This course provides students with a fundamental understanding of the chemistry and materials science principles related to Bioengineering. It covers the main functional groups in organic molecules, their roles in building more complex structures and functionalizing surfaces; the main techniques for identifying and characterizing engineered molecules; the foundations of classical thermodynamics and applications in biomedical engineering and molecular sciences; chemical kinetics, Fick's laws and steady state diffusion; and the wet lab skills of students, including preparing a range of biomaterials and practice with the main techniques used for classifying such materials.

This course instils the principles of digital logic design and computer fundamentals. It provides a basis for students to understand what happens inside digital computers and how they communicate with the real world. It illustrates how both digital computers and complex medical instrumentation are built up from simple logic circuit elements. It relates logic and digital systems to the fundamentals of computer programming. Lastly, it provides the basic skills of programming in the ANSI C language and Matlab to convey a sense of the professionalism required of programmers in order to write reliable C code for safety-critical applications, such as medicine.

In this course, students develop their understanding of electronics components and systems architecture and how these are used in different types of biomedical instrumentation. Students then use this knowledge during a practical task to develop an instrument prototype following a set of bioengineering/biomedical specifications.

This course introduces students to the fundamental concepts of normal tissue development and how researchers have used this information to imitate nature in a lab setting, engineering cells and tissues that may be used to model diseases, treat disease, or develop drugs. Discussion topics include: societal challenges for tissue engineering, cell building blocks, normal tissue development and regeneration, adult stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, challenges in imitating nature, cell and tissue therapy, gene therapy, and drug development.

The course introduces the broad field of Health Technology Assessment (HTA). HTA is a collection of methodologies used to make evidenced-based assessment of the value added by new technologies to inform policy and decision making. The course introduces the full life-cycle of a new medical technology from the perspective of a device inventor and a government regulator, including safety regulations. It covers methodologies including systematic reviewing, decision theory, evidence synthesis, health economics, and the overall methodology used for HTA in practice.

This course addresses how modern techniques of structural and chemical biology are being used to solve biological problems. It draws on multiple aspects of macromolecular biochemistry including nucleic acid structure and interactions, signaling proteins, and membrane proteins.  The course demonstrates how this knowledge can be used in drug discovery and protein design in biotechnology. Topics include mechanisms of reversible and irreversible enzyme inhibitors, ligand binding, protein folding, the molecular basis for protein function, regulation of protein activity, cell signaling, and proteomics. Assessment: Tests count 40%; practicals, tutorials essays, and assignments count 10%; one 3-hour examination written in June counts 50%. A subminimum of 40% in the examination is required.

In this research course, students chose from a range of research topics in various academic fields and receive one-on-one training from an experienced mentor who helps them refine research ideas, formulate questions, define methods of data collection, execute a plan, and present findings. Students review background information for their project, summarize its key outcomes, write a clear and concise research paper or report, and present results orally.

The course has its starting point in yesterday's raw materials and describes the development of the petrochemical revolution to the chemical process industries of today. The course contains the following sections: historic development of the process industry, catalysis, common feedstocks in the process industry, refinery processes, production of organic and inorganic chemicals, specialty chemicals, biotechnical processes as well as paper and pulp production.

The course provides basic knowledge in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning for applications in medicine and health. The course covers the chain from medical databases via algorithms to regulations and requirements for diagnostic software.