3.9 Summarise the main ideas of the text. Unit 4

Before you read

4.1 Discuss these questions with your partner.

1. What is biomedical engineering?

2. Where can students work after graduating from this departament?

3. What science is connected with biomedical engineering?

4.2 Read the text and then make a list of terms which are new for you. What is biomedical engineering?

Biomedical engineering (BME) is the application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical field. It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to improve healthcare diagnosis and treatment.

Biomedical engineering is the study of medical equipment used in an environment of care or physiological training and how this equipment interfaces or physically interacts with the human body.

Biomedical engineering has only recently emerged as its own discipline, compared to many other engineering fields; this evolution is common as a new field transitions from being an interdisciplinary specialization among already-established fields, to being considered as a field in itself.

Much of the work in biomedical engineering consists of research and development, spanning a broad array of subfields. Prominent biomedical engineering applications include the development of biocompatible prosthesis, various diagnostic and therapeutic medical devices ranging from clinical equipment to micro-implants, common imaging equipment such as MRIs and EEGs, biotechnologies such as regenerative tissue growth, and pharmaceutical drugs and biopharmaceuticals.

Biomedical engineers design, test, modify, recommend modification of, and evaluate all medical equipment used to interface or interact with the human body. In addition to these functions, clinical engineers usually supervise the biomedical equipment maintenance function within an environment of care.

Some biomedical engineers do not work with medical devices. These biomedical engineers use their knowledge of math to look at living systems. Living things are very complicated and biomedical engineers often make mathematical models. Using maths can help understand the living organisms better.

Biomedical engineering is a highly interdisciplinary field, influenced by various other engineering and medical fields.

Disciplines within BME can include:

• Chemical engineering - often associated with biochemical, cellular, molecular and tissue engineering, biomaterials and biotransport.

• Electrical engineering - often associated with bioelectrical and neural engineering, bioinstrumentation, biomedical imaging, and medical devices. This also tends to encompass optics and optical engineering - biomedical optics, imaging and related medical devices.

• Mechanical engineering - often associated with biomechanics, biotransport, medical devices, and modeling of biological systems.

Vocabulary development

4.3 Match the words and phrases with their definitions.

1. biomedical engineering	a. electroencephalogram
2. medical field	b. an artificial leg, tooth, or other part of the body
3. equipment	c. the items needed for a particular purpose
4. interdisciplinary	d. particularly noticeable
5. subfields	e. medical engineering
6. prominent	f. activity related to the nervous system
7. micro-implants	g. the application of engineering principles to the fields of biology and medicine
8. MRI	h. act so as to have a reciprocal effect
9. EEG	i. artificial tiny details of organism
10. tissue	j. part
11.to interact	k. the process of debugging or being maintained
12. maintenance	l. relating to more than one branch of knowledge
13. living systems	m. systems necessary to stabilize the patient life
14. prostheses	The material from which animals or plants are made
15. neural	Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Comprehension