ABSTRACT
Biomedical engineering is an emerging eld that integrates engineering advances with medical and biological sciences to help improve patient health care and quality of life. Biomedical engineers work closely with health care providers, such as physicians, nurses, therapists, and technicians, to analyze and solve problems at the interface of biology and medicine. Due to the diversity of clinical requirements and the complexity of biological systems, biomedical engineering projects typically require multidisciplinary teamwork involving clinical practitioners, engineers, scientists, and pharmacologists. To ensure the clinical safety and efcacy of biomedical systems, government regulations and industrial standards have to be considered at the early stage. Extensive benchtop research, cell/tissue validation, and preclinical studies are necessary before the successful translation of biomedical engineering techniques from the benchtop to the bedside. In the eld of biomedical engineering, there is continuous change and the creation of new areas resulted from emerging clinical needs and technical advances. Therefore, an inclusive description of each research area is almost impossible. Recently, the National Research Council listed the following seven representative biomedical engineering domains: bioelectrical and neuroengineering; bioimaging and biomedical optics; biomaterials; biomechanics and biotransport; biomedical devices and instrumentation; molecular, cellular, and tissue engineering; and systems and integrative engineering. Each domain is briey introduced below.
