Bioengineering
In the last few decades, there has been significant growth in bioengineering. It is a discipline that combines various aspects of biology, physics, chemistry and engineering to develop new technologies or solve problems related to living systems.
Bioengineering can be defined as applying principles from engineering to the biological sciences. It covers everything from designing artificial organs for medical purposes to understanding how organisms work on a cellular level.
The primary focus of bioengineers is often on manipulating living cells and their molecular processes. They are also involved in developing methods for genetic modification or creating materials with unique properties and developing devices that interface with living tissues, such as implantable sensors.
Bioengineers take inspiration from different areas within biology like biomechanics, which deals with forces exerted by cells, tissues or organisms; transport phenomena – the movement of molecules through membranes etc.; biomaterials research -materials synthesised naturally or artificially mimicking natural substances-and biochemical reactions within cells themselves- metabolisms. With recent advancements in genetics permitting us to identify modifications at much smaller scales, DNA sequencing + CRISPR came along, allowing researchers & clinicians more control over modulating gene expressions.
Because bioengineering involves such diverse fields, scientists have applied its techniques across multiple industries, including pharmaceuticals manufacturing (e.g. using genetically engineered yeast strains), novel sensing technology components development (smart contact lenses loaded w/sensors measuring blood glucose/etc.), and modelling complex physiological systems using computers (COVID predicting models).
Why Should We Care About Bioengineering?
The potential applications of bioengineering solutions are immense, from improving human health via synthetic tissue production & disease diagnostics/’cures’ to more efficient food waste processing, clean energy generation, environmental protection, and conservation. Endless possibilities around enhancing quality/shortening our understanding time frame rely upon pushing opening new doors…
So if you’re interested in finding ways we make improvements towards helping people/planet a safer place look out for breakthroughs and keep emerging at the intersection between engineering bioscience disciplines!