University of Michigan
ENGR 100, Biotechnology, Human Values & the Engineer
Biotechnology is a rapidly evolving field that impacts nearly every aspect of our daily lives from the food we eat to the medicine we take. The goals of this course are to familiarize ourselves with some basic biotechnological concepts, equip ourselves with a vocabulary to speak intelligibly about them, and to gain insight into the current and future impacts of biotechnology on us and our environment. Topics will cover a range of applications in genetics, systems biology, sequencing technology, and molecular imaging. This course will emphasize the role of critical thinking, teamwork, and communications in successful scientific investigation. And, finally, this semester’s project, prepared in consultation with a real client, will explore the potential application of new biotechnological advances to real world medical pursuits.
BIOMEDE 211, Circuits, Systems, & Signals in Biomedical Engineering
Electrical circuits are everywhere. Phenomena and systems whose behavior can be modeled as circuits are also everywhere. Many of these phenomena and systems are of particular interest to biomedical engineers. These include but are not limited to the circuitry and theory behind biopotential amplification, the passive electrical properties of biological tissues, how drugs diffuse, oxygen saturates, hearts go on beating. We will endeavor to learn at least those examples in depth, along with all the necessary electrical circuitry knowledge requisite of a university-trained engineer.
BIOMEDE 231, An Introduction to (Bio)Mechanics
This course will provide students with an introduction to topics in mechanics, including statics, dynamics, and deformable body mechanics, with applications to biological tissues and systems.
BIOMEDE 241, Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Laboratory
This course provides an introduction to experimentation in circuits, systems, physical chemistry, thermodynamics, and mechanics with emphasis on biological applications. Lectures and laboratories on lab safety, measurement and analysis of physiological systems; operational amplifiers; rate of reaction; heat of reaction; whole body, tissue, and cellular mechanics; probability and statistical analysis.
BIOMEDE 331, Introductory (Bio)Fluid Mechanics
We will establish our foundational understanding of fluid mechanics through biomedical examples of historical significance and modern importance, of technical rigor and of clinical relevance. Due to circumstances beyond our control, the course will be taught via a mixture of “synchronous” and “asynchronous” methods, including continuous individual work and regular group interactions. The folks teaching in this class have never taught like this before. The folks learning in this class have never learned like this before. As such, while holding ourselves to high standards, we’ll also give each other a little extra leeway in our endeavors.
BIOMEDE 458, Biomedical Instrumentation
Human beings emit all sorts of signals. Those signals may be usefully harvested by those looking to do so. Such harvests may yield measurements of personally atypical heart problems, may sustain the lungs of those unable to do so for a time, may ensure oxygen flows through the veins of the living. The design of such instruments and their contemporary manifestation deserve our study. This primarily-laboratory-based course will teach good documentation skills, facilitate biomedical signal acquisition, and expand one’s notions of biomedical instrumentation.