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Bang goes big data

When you think of big data you probably think of powerful computers crunching numbers, not a brain biosensor. Tonight the lead story on the BBC Bang goes the Theory episode on Big Data is about the traumatic brain injury research by Professor Martyn Boutelle in the Department of Bioengineering, here at Imperial.

Bang 40 web

Here’s this link to a preview clip of tonight’s episode which gives you a taste of what is in store for tonight’s episode.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the science and engineering behind the biosensors, I would recommend this paper written by Professor Martyn Boutelle and Dr Michelle Rogers about “Real-Time Clinical Monitoring of Biomolecules”  and how continuous monitoring of clinical biomarkers offers the exciting possibility of new therapies that use biomarker levels to guide treatment in real time. The review considers measurements in body fluids by a range of analytical methods and discusses direct tissue measurements performed by implanted sensors; sampling techniques, including microdialysis and ultrafiltration; and noninvasive methods.

The monitoring kit is now in the intensive care unit

ICU TBI

Check out the Department of Bioengineering Facebook page, for a sneak preview of photos behind the scenes.

From East to West

I have now finished my first week of the US bioengineering trip. This post is a synopsis of what I have learnt so far.

1. The UK and the USA landscape of bioengineering isn’t as different as I had expected.

2. There is heterogeneity in the bioengineering departments, with different Departments focusing on different aspects of bioengineering. Most interestingly on this front was the different meaning of bioengineering to each institution, sometimes subtle other times less so in the case of MIT where they have taken a unique approach to biological engineering.

3. Invention, innovation and design are all growing areas of interest in bioengineering education out here. My meetings with Michael Cima at MIT and Youseph Yazdi at Johns Hopkins particularly highlighted this. It is an area that Imperial are up there with alongside the american institutions with the MRes in Medical Device Design and Entrepreneurship which Professor James Moore launched in October 2013.

4. Impact, the buzz word of 2013 is also big in the US, although they generally refer to it as ‘broader impact’. As in the UK the funders, particularly the NSF, are now providing grants for outreach as part of research.

5. Industry perception, although I think generally US awareness of bioengineering is higher than that of the UK there is still work to be done in industry. Particularly industry perception of the skillset of bioengineers vs. mechanical or electrical and electronic engineers. I am looking forward to working on this survey with some of my new US contacts that I have met with during this trip.

Overall my views of the future growth of the discipline have only been encouraged through this trip. I have met many inspirational individuals on the trip so far who are leading the discipline academically and innovatively, and I feel very privileged to have had the honour to meet them all.

Special thanks to:
Professor Doug Lauffenburger, MIT
Professor Roger Kamm, MIT
Professor Ron Weiss, MIT
Daniel Darling, MIT
Professor Scott Manalis, MIT
Dr Agi Stachowiak, MIT
Dr Natalie Kuldell, MIT
Professor Michael Cima, MIT

Professor Solomon Eisenberg, Boston University

Professor Sandra Shefelbine, Northeastern University
Claire Duggan, Northeastern University
Karen Kelley, Northeastern University

Professor Clark Hung, Columbia University

Doug Beizer, Biomedical Engineering Society

Dr Karen Borgsmiller, Johns Hopkins University
Christine Newman, Johns Hopkins University
Alisha Sparks, Johns Hopkins University
Professor Youseph Yazdi, Johns Hopkins University

…not a bad first week 🙂

Hello world!

The home of Imperial College London Bioengineering
The home of Imperial College London Bioengineering

Hello readers

Welcome to the Imperial Bioengineering Blog. This blog will evolve to cover a whole range of bioengineering, so if you are interested in finding out more about the research, innovations and generally cool stuff that is going on in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London and the discipline more globally then this is the blog for you.

But why, you may wonder has the Department decided to start a blog now? There is a very good reason for this, which I will dedicate the rest of this first blog to answering.

Bioengineering is the fastest growing discipline of engineering. Data from the USA shows that Biomedical Engineering is the “Best job in America” with 10-year job growth of 61.7% and a good median and top pay. But it is more than the job prospects and salary that make biomedical engineering such an attractive profession. Christine Schmidt, a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Florida was quoted in the CNN piece as saying “You can impact so many lives by creating technology that will repair a hip or help repair eyesight or allow somebody to breathe better.”

It is this that make biomedical engineering such an attractive, necessary and fast growing discipline. Now you have probably noticed I have used both biomedical engineering and bioengineering interchangeably in the last paragraph. I think it is useful in this first post to define what we mean by bioengineering in the Department of Bioengineering here at Imperial.

Bioengineering is the application of engineering principles to biological or medical problems. 

In the Department we go on to further define the three pillars of bioengineering:

Biomedical Engineering Developing devices, techniques and interventions for human health.

Biological Engineering Solving problems related to the life sciences and their applications for health.

Biomimetics Using the structures and functions of living organisms as models for the design and engineering of materials and machines.

Biomedical engineering is also the “most valuable College major” another US statistic, this time from Forbes. Which brings me onto the catalyst for this blog, my imminent trip to the USA to find out more about bioengineering over there.

I fly out on the 23rd February to America for two weeks of meetings to find out more from those at the centre of the discipline. The first few posts on this blog will be about what I learn as I meet some incredible bioengineers all around the US, beginning in Boston and travelling to New York, Baltimore, San Francisco and finishing up in Los Angeles. Please do comment on the blogs especially if you have questions or would like to know more. Below I have listed the Universities I will be visiting on my travels, to those reading this who I will be meeting, I look forward to seeing you soon, for others I look forward to telling you all about it.

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Boston University
  • Northeastern University
  • Columbia University
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • Biomedical Engineering Society
  • University of California- Davis
  • Stanford University
  • University of California- Berkeley
  • University of California Los Angeles
  • University of Southern California
  • California Institute of Technology

‘Til next post.

Jenna

Outreach Manager, Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London.