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2020

BIOENGINEERING AND MEDICINE Bioengineering is the application of physical,

chemical, or mathematical sciences and
BYM1201 Introduction to Bioengineering engineering principles to define and solve
problems in biology, medicine, healthcare and
other fields.

Bioengineering creates knowledge for the

molecular to organ systems levels, and develops
innovative biologics, materials, processes, devices,
Doç. Dr. Rabia ÇAKIR KOÇ and informatics approaches for the prevention,
diagnosis, and treatment of disease, and for
Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi Biyomühendislik Bölümü
improving health.

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Medicine is the science and practice consisting of many Bioengineering applies engineering principles and
sub-disciplines that work for the maintenance of design concepts to medicine with the intention of
human health. improving the overall healthcare of society—particularly
the people with medical conditions.
Medicine applies biomedical sciences, genetics, and
medical technology to diagnose, treat, and prevent Examples of bioengineering research include bacteria
injury and disease, typically through pharmaceuticals, engineered to produce chemicals, new medical imaging
but also through therapies as diverse as medical technology, portable disease diagnostic devices, and
imaging, medical devices, regenerative medicine, etc. tissue engineered organs.

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Bioengineering for Medicine

Bioengineers will use the technology and

Bringing together knowledge of problem-solving techniques to better understand the behavior of
from many engineering disciplines, bioengineers proteins, cells, tissue, and organs in the body, or
design medical instruments, devices, computational develop solutions such as targeted drug delivery,
tools and perform population studies or carry out gene therapies, regenerative medicine,
Wearable Respiratory Device

research to acquire the knowledge needed to solve bioinformatics, vaccines, etc.

new problems.
The future of medicine will mean personalized Organ-on-a-chip
Bioengineers play a critical role in developing new medicine, hand-held diagnostic platforms, wearable
products, advancing research, and solving clinical monitoring devices, and other technological
Nanoparticle drug
delivery system
problems. advances to make healthcare more effective and
economical.

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Bioengineering Applications in Medicine Biomaterials and Medicine

Bioengineering addresses unmet challenges that make a difference in the world Biomaterials can be defined as any material or
and finds innovative solutions to problems in medicine. Several examples of combination of substances, which can be used any time,
solutions in the medical research areas: as a whole, or as a part of a system that treats or replaces
any tissue, organ, or function of the body.
DNA and protein microarrays
Smart” therapies for cancer
for drug development Biomaterials have been designed to interact with human
or animal biological systems in order to perform their
Nanoparticle contrast agents intended function.
Biocompatible implants
for medical imaging
Diagnostics for home Biosensors for blood typing, The most important features of biomaterials are
healthcare and global health blood glucose levels, etc. biocompatibility, bioinert, bioactive or surface reactive,
Computational biology biodegradable, adequate mechanical and physical
Designing cell culture tools
methods properties, manufacturability, low weight, reasonable cost,
etc.

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Biomaterials and Medicine Regenerative Therapies

Regenerative medicine is the branch of medicine that

develops methods to regrow, repair, or replace damaged or
Biomaterials may be made of different types of diseased cells, organs, or tissues.
materials, including metals, ceramics, polymers, glasses,
carbons, and composite materials. The tools used to realize these outcomes are tissue
engineering, cellular therapies, and medical devices, and
Bioengineers apply these biomaterials in joint artificial organs.
replacements, dental applications, blood vessel
prostheses, vascular grafts, stents, nerve conduits, Combinations of these approaches can amplify our natural
contact lenses, etc. healing process in the places it is needed most or take over
the function of a permanently damaged organ.

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Tissue Engineering Applications Stem Cell Therapies

Tissue engineering is the practice of combining scaffolds,

cells, and biologically active molecules into functional Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and
tissues. proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. Stem cells can be
collected from blood, fat, bone marrow, skeletal muscle and other sources.
The scaffold provides a platform compatible with the
native tissue that needs to be regenerated and guides the The purpose of stem cell therapies is to promote cell replacement in organs that are
cells to construct the new tissue. damaged beyond their ability to self-repair.

The goal of tissue engineering is to assemble functional Stem cells can be directed to differentiate into
constructs that restore, maintain, or improve damaged specific cell types, offer the possibility of a
tissues or whole organs. Artificial skin and cartilage are renewable source of replacement cells and tissues
examples of engineered tissues that have been approved to treat diseases including Parkinson's, heart
by the FDA. disease, and diabetes.

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Stem Cell Therapies Vaccine Development

There are three approaches for stem cell therapies. A vaccine is a type of medicine that stimulates the body’s immune system to produce
antibodies so that it can fight the disease it has not come into contact with before.
1. The direct administration of stem cells into the damaged organ, After getting vaccinated, the body develops immunity to that disease, before getting the
where they can differentiate into the spesific cell type. disease.

2. The transplantation of differentiated cells derived from stem Vaccines greatly reduce the risk of infection by training the immune system to recognize
cells. For example, hearth cells can be generated from stem cells and fight pathogens such as viruses or bacteria.
before transplantation into patients with heart disease.

3. The stimulation of endogenous stem cells to facilitate repair by

the administration of appropriate growth factors and drugs that
increase the number of native stem cells or direct them to
differentiate into the spesific cell types.

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Vaccine Development Drug Delivery Systems

Drug delivery is a broad field of research on

Vaccines safely deliver an immunogen which is a
the development of carrier systems for
specific type of antigen that is often made from
effective therapeutic delivery of substances
weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or
to treat many diseases such as cancer,
one of its surface proteins.
neurodegenerative diseases, and infectious
diseases.
Vaccination is the most effective method of preventing
infectious diseases, widespread immunity due to
The term therapeutic substance refers to an
vaccination is largely responsible for the worldwide
agent such as small molecule drugs, genes,
elimination of smallpox and the restriction of diseases
proteins, etc.
such as polio, measles, and tetanus from much of the
world.

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Drug Delivery Systems Gene Therapies

Bioengineers contribute to the development of new drug delivery systems and to

Gene therapy is an experimental technique that uses
efficient drug delivery, such as transport in the circulatory system and drug movement
genes to treat or prevent disease. It allows treating a
through cells and tissues.
disorder by inserting a gene into a patient’s cells instead
of using drugs or surgery.
Delivering drugs improves the efficacy and safety by controlling the rate, time, and place
of release of drugs in the body.
The idea is to modify the genetic information of the cell
of the patient that is responsible for a disease, and then
This process includes the administration of the return that cell to normal conditions.
therapeutic substance, the release of the
substance, and the transport of the substance Transfer of genetic material is done commonly by using
across the cell membrane to the site of action. viral vectors that use their own biological capacities to
enter the cell and deposit the genetic material.

Targeted drug delivery to a cancer cell

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Gene Therapies Genetic Engineering

There are several approaches of gene therapy, including: Genetic engineering, recombinant DNA technology, genetic
manipulation, and gene splicing are terms that apply to the
• Replacing a mutated gene that causes disease with a healthy direct manipulation of genes of an organism.
copy of the gene.
• Inactivating, or “knocking out,” a mutated gene that is Bioengineers use these techniques of molecular cloning and
functioning improperly. transformation to alter the structure and characteristics of
• Introducing a new gene into the body to help fight a disease. genes.

Although gene therapy is a promising treatment option for Some examples are improving crop technology, the
various diseases such as inherited disorders, some types of manufacture of synthetic human insulin through the use of
cancer, and certain viral infections, the technique remains risky modified bacteria, and the production of new types of
and is still under study to make sure that it will be safe and experimental mice such as the oncomouse (cancer mouse)
effective. for the development of new therapeutics.

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Medical Devices Point-of-Care Diagnostics

Point-of-care (POC) tests are essential for diagnosing

Medical devices are a very broad category - essentially covering all health care products that infectious diseases and provide results within minutes of
do not achieve their intended results through chemical (e.g., pharmaceuticals) or biological the test being administered.
(e.g., vaccines) means.
Heart-lung machine Pacemaker
POC tests enables quick medical decisions, as the diseases
A medical device is intended for use in: can be diagnosed at a very early stage, leading to
 the diagnosis of a disease or other conditions, or improved health outcomes for patients by enabling the
Blood glucose test
 in the treatment or prevention of disease. early start of treatment.

Some examples include pacemakers, infusion pumps, the Some examples:

heart-lung machine, dialysis machines, artificial organs, • Blood glucose tests
implants, artificial limbs, contact lenses, facial prosthetics, • Pregnancy tests
and dental implants. • Infectious disease tests such as antibody tests for
COVID-19
Dialysis machine COVID-19 antibody test

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Implants Medical Imaging

An implant is a kind of medical device made to replace and act as a missing Medical imaging is a major segment of medical devices. This major field deals with
biological structure. The surface of implants that contact the body might be enabling the creation of images of various parts of the human body for diagnostic and
made of a biomedical material such as titanium, silicone, or apatite depending on treatment purposes within digital health. This can involve using ultrasound, magnetism, UV,
other radiology, etc. Imaging technologies are typically the most complex equipment found
what is the most functional. In some cases, implants contain electronics such as
in a hospital including:
artificial pacemakers.
 Fluoroscopy
 Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) MRI
 X-ray radiography
 Tomography
 Ultrasound
 Optical and electron microscopy

Knee joint implant Hip implant Dental implant X-Ray Ultrasound

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Conclusion REFERENCES

 Bioengineering develops new strategies to solve the problems encountered in

 Madihally, S.V. 2010. "Principles of Biomedical Engineering", Artech House, 1.
medicine and thereby improve the overall healthcare of society.  Berger, S.A., Goldsmith, W., Lewis, E.R. 1996. "Introduction to Bioengineering".
 Shoureshi, R. A. (2005). Introduction to Bioengineering: Melding of Engineering and
 In the field of medicine, bioengineers develop new genetic engineering Biological Sciences. Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America, 38(2), 185–197.
products, biomaterials for regenerative medicine, vaccine and drug  Tiwari, G., Tiwari, R., Sriwastawa, B., Bhati, L., Pandey, S., Pandey, P., & Bannerjee, S. K. (2012).
Drug delivery systems: An updated review. International journal of pharmaceutical
formulations, medical devices, and imaging techniques. investigation, 2(1), 2–11.
 Jain, K. K. (2008). Drug Delivery Systems - An Overview. Methods in Molecular Biology, 1–50.
 Therefore, Bioengineering plays an important role in the diagnosis, prevention,  Vashist S. K. (2017). Point-of-Care Diagnostics: Recent Advances and Trends. Biosensors, 7(4),
62.
and treatment of hereditary diseases, cancer, infectious diseases, and global  Kulinets, I. (2015). Biomaterials and their applications in medicine. Regulatory Affairs for
pandemics. Biomaterials and Medical Devices, 1–10.

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REFERENCES

 Kessler, J.A. 2015. "Applications of Stem Cell Biology in Clinical Medicine". Harrison's
Principles of Internal Medicine, 19e
 Mahla R. S. (2016). Stem Cells Applications in Regenerative Medicine and Disease
Therapeutics. International journal of cell biology, 2016, 6940283.
 Howard, D., Buttery, L. D., Shakesheff, K. M., & Roberts, S. J. (2008). Tissue engineering:
strategies, stem cells and scaffolds. Journal of anatomy, 213(1), 66–72.
 Yadav, Dinesh & Yadav, Neelam & Khurana, SM. (2013). Vaccines: Present Status and
Application.
 Gonçalves, G., & Paiva, R. (2017). Gene therapy: advances, challenges and perspectives.
Einstein (Sao Paulo, Brazil), 15(3), 369–375.

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