The goal of this course is to provide the students with a comprehensive understanding of the biophysical and chemical principles of biomedical micro-electro-mechanical systems, also known as BioMEMS, and their applications in multidisciplinary fields as medicine, clinical sciences and surgery, material sciences and engineering.
The study of the basis of microfabrication techniques, micropatterning, microfluidic systems and biosensors, will be completed with examples of real applications of BioMEMS such as: biomechanical, optical and electrochemical transducers used for in vivo and in vitro measurements, microdevices for molecular and cell biology, microfabricated approaches for analysis and diagnosis, hybrid technologies oriented to tissue microengineering and organ development, implantable microdevices based on biomedical microelectronics, microtools for surgery, point-of-care devices and world-to-chip interfacing and packaging processes.
In particular, at the end of the course, each student will be able to:
- Integrate knowledge of life and medical science learned in previous courses to create implementable solutions to microengineering problems.
- Select appropriate materials for the construction of biomedical microdevices.
- Understand the basic principles on the microfabrication and systems integration of BioMEMS devices.
- Design and construct simple microfluidic systems and perform experiments using these devices.
- Describe different biosignal transduction mechanisms and choose the appropiate one for a given application.
- Have an appreciation and understanding of the technical challenges and opportunities that biomedical microdevices brings to life and medical sciences.
- Function effectively as a part of a group on the practical sessions and problem solving sessions.
- Acquire through reading, practice exercises, and self-initiated research technical knowledge related to the course content, including the emerging applications of biomedical microdevices.