Biomedical Engineering is that branch of engineering, which concentrates on designs and principal concepts of biology and medicine needed for healthcare purposes. This discipline bridges the gap between biology and engineering. Read the following post to know more about biomedical engineering.
What is Biomedical Engineering?
The very name suggests that this branch of engineering brings the medical industry and engineering closer to each other. By applying engineering principals different health care purposes are solved by a biomedical engineer. Such advanced biological services include diagnosis, observation and therapy. A separate field of study, biomedical engineering has been introduced recently. Most of the study in this branch of engineering consists of research and development. It also includes the development of some applications like biocompatible prostheses. Making of different instruments, making imaging equipment like ECG’s and MRI’s, micro implants, preparation of pharmaceutical drugs are also the part of this discipline.
Knowledge of both biology and engineering is needed to be a successful biomedical engineer. You can apply for a general Master degree or PhD degree. A typical biomedical engineering course consists of other subdivisions like genetic engineering, neural engineering, tissue engineering, pharmaceutical engineering, medical devices, clinical engineering and many more. Each of these streams differs from one another. An artificial organ can also be created by studying tissue engineering and this helps mainly those patients who need an organ transplant. A neural system can be repaired, replaced and enhanced if you have a degree in neurological engineering. If one studies the particular branch of medical devices, then it will give you knowledge about medical implants, medical imaging and bionics.
Training and Certification
A biomedical engineer needs to have a typical Master’s or Doctorate degree mainly in BME. Interest in BME is increasing gradually and as a result, most of the engineering colleges now have programs for biomedical engineering and a separate biomedical Engineering department. Such colleges also offer such course at the undergraduate level. You can choose from either of the degrees like B. Eng, B. Tech, B.S or B.S.E. Biomedical engineering was a cross medical hybrid specialization earlier. At present it has emerged as a separate subject. Many medical schools offer a pre-med major degree known as Bachelor of Science which is taught as a part of biomedical engineering. With the improvement of medical technology, number of biomedical institutes is also increasing day by day.
Colleges Offering Biomedical Engineering
A typical college degree in Biomedical Engineering starts from the undergraduate level and offers a PhD degree also. Numerous certification courses are also there offered by some colleges. The course of study, however, is different from one college to another. Training and education opportunities have also increased to a great extent today.
In India there are some top class colleges which offer biomedical engineering. Notable institutes are Osmania University, Hyderabad; VIT University, Vellore; Institute of Technology, BHU, Varanasi; Bhubaneswar Engineering College, Orissa, Lakshmi Narain Technology College, Bhopal, Quest Group of Institutions in Punjab, MVJ College of Engineering in Bangalore and lot more.
Job Prospects
The scope of this field of engineering has grown by 27% and is expected to grow further. To be a good biomedical engineer, you need some skills besides educational qualification. These include analytical skills and reasoning power. After completing a formal biomedical degree you can get a job of a service engineer and provide biomedical instruments to various medical companies. You can even analyze the latest instruments launched. As, this is a research oriented discipline so job prospects might be little limited. If you complete a PhD degree than you can even attempt to teach in a biomedical college or in IIT Delhi or IIT Mumbai. A biomedical engineer is generally recruited in hospitals, medical institutions and government regulatory agencies and even in engineering institutes. They have their background in both medical and engineering fields and they serve coordinating functions. After completing their degree in biomedical engineering they may help to create designs where an in-depth analysis of living creatures as well as technology is needed.
Future of the Biomedical Industry
The biomedical industry has shown considerable signs of development in the recent past. Now-a-days a biomedical engineer also works as technical advisors in the marketing department of some companies. Some of them are even posted at the management level. With such advancement the scope of biomedical engineering is going to show fruitful results.
Author Bio: A professional writer and an ardent blogger, Sampurna Majumder has been lending her knowhow to prominent websites like Shiksha.com by penning articles and blog posts on popular courses, educational trends and institutes like these. The above post explores the significance of career counselling.
