Bionics and Biomedical Engineering

Summary

Bionics combines natural biological systems with engineered devices and electrical mechanisms. An example of bionics is an artificial arm controlled by impulses from the human mind. Construction of bionic arms or similar devices requires the integrative use of medical equipment such as electroencephalograms (EEGs) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines with mechanically engineered prosthetic arms and legs. Biomedical engineering further melds biomedical and engineering sciences by producing medical equipment, tissue growth, and new pharmaceuticals. An example of biomedical engineering is human insulin production through genetic engineering to treat diabetes.

Definition and Basic Principles

The fields of biomedical engineering and bionics focus on improving health, particularly after injury or illness, with better rehabilitation, medications, innovative treatments, enhanced diagnostic tools, and preventive medicine.

Bionics has moved nineteenth-century prostheses, such as the wooden leg, into the twenty-first century by using plastic polymers and levers. Bionics integrates circuit boards and wires connecting the nervous system to the modular prosthetic limb. Controlling artificial limb movements with thoughts provides more lifelike function and ability. This mind and prosthetic limb integration is the “bio” portion of bionics. The “nic” portion, taken from the word “electronic,” concerns the mechanical engineering that makes it possible for the person using a bionic limb to increase the number and range of limb activity, approaching the function of a real limb.

Biomedical engineering encompasses many medical fields. The principle of adapting engineering techniques and knowledge to human structure and function is a key unifying concept of biomedical engineering. Advances in genetic engineering have produced remarkable bioengineered medications. Recombinant DNA techniques (genetic engineering) have produced synthetic hormones, such as insulin. Bacteria are used as a host for this process. Once human insulin-producing genes are implanted in the bacteria, the bacteria's DNA produces human insulin, and the human insulin is harvested to treat diabetics. Before this genetic technique was developed in 1982 to produce human insulin, insulin-dependent people with diabetes relied on insulin from pigs or cows. Although this insulin was life-saving, patients often developed problems from the pig or cow insulin because they would produce antibodies against the foreign insulin. This problem disappeared with the ability to engineer human insulin using recombinant DNA technology. Genetic engineering has also been instrumental in developing vaccines to protect against the COVID-19 virus.

Background and History

In the broad sense, biomedical engineering has existed for millennia. Human beings have always envisioned the integration of humans and technology to increase and enhance human abilities. Prosthetic devices go back many thousands of years—a three-thousand-year-old Egyptian mummy, for example, was found with a wooden big toe tied to its foot. In the fifteenth century, during the Italian Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci's elegant drawings demonstrated some early ideas on bioengineering, including his helicopter and flying machines, which melded humans and machines into one functional unit capable of flight. Other early examples of biomedical engineering include wooden teeth, crutches, and medical equipment, such as stethoscopes.

Electrophysiological studies in the early 1800s produced biomedical engineering information used to better understand human physiology. Engineering principles related to electricity combined with human physiology resulted in better knowledge of the electrical properties of nerves and muscles.

X-rays, discovered by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen in 1895, were an unknown type of radiation (thus the “X” name). When it was accidentally discovered that they could penetrate and destroy tissue, experiments were developed that led to a range of imaging technologies that evolved over the next century. The first formal biomedical engineering training program, established in 1921 at Germany's Oswalt Institute for Physics in Medicine, focused on three main areas: the effects of ionizing radiation, tissue electrical characteristics, and X-ray properties.

In 1948, the Institute of Radio Engineers (later the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), the American Institute for Electrical Engineering, and the Instrument Society of America held a conference on engineering in biology and medicine. The 1940s and 1950s saw the formation of professional societies related to biomedical engineering, such as the Biophysics Society, and of interest groups within engineering societies. However, research at the time focused on the study of radiation. Electronics and the budding computer era broadened interest and activities toward the end of the 1950s.

James D. Watson and Francis Crick identified the DNA double-helix structure in 1953. This important discovery fostered subsequent experimentation in molecular biology that yielded important information about how DNA and genes code for the expression of traits in all living organisms. The genetic code in DNA was deciphered in 1968, arming researchers with enough information to discover ways that DNA could be recombined to introduce genes from one organism into a different organism, thereby allowing the host to produce a variety of useful products. DNA recombination became one of the most important tools in the field of biomedical engineering, leading to tissue growth as well as new pharmaceuticals.

In 1962, the National Institutes of Health created the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, fostering the development of biomedical engineering programs. This institute funds research in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease.

Bionics and biomedical engineering span a wide variety of beneficial health-related fields. The common thread is the combination of technology with human applications. Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1996. Cloning produces a genetically identical copy of an existing life form. Human embryonic cloning presents the potential for therapeutic reproduction of needed organs and tissues, such as kidney replacement for patients with renal failure.

In the twenty-first century, the linking of machines with the mind and sensory perception has provided hearing for deaf people, some sight for blind individuals, and willful control of prostheses for individuals with an amputation or birth defect.

How It Works

Restorative bionics integrates prosthetic limbs with electrical connections to neurons, allowing an individual's thoughts to control the artificial limb. Tiny arrays of electrodes attached to the eye's retina connect to the optic nerve, enabling some visual perception for previously blind people. Deaf people hear with electric devices that send signals to auditory nerves using antennas, magnets, receivers, and electrodes. Researchers are considering bionic skin development using nanotechnology to connect with nerves, enabling skin sensations for burn victims requiring extensive grafting.

Many biomedical devices work inside the human body. Pacemakers, artificial heart valves, stents, and even artificial hearts are some of the bionic devices that correct problems with the cardiovascular system. Pacemakers generate electric signals that improve abnormal heart rates and abnormal heart rhythms. When pulse generators in the pacemakers sense an abnormal heart rate or rhythm, they produce shocks to restore the normal rate. Stents are inserted into an artery to widen and open clogged blood vessels. Stents and pacemakers are examples of specialized bionic devices made of bionic materials compatible with human structure and function.

Cloning. Cloning is a significant area of genetic engineering that allows the replication of a complete living organism by manipulating genes. Dolly the sheep, an all-white Finn Dorset ewe, was cloned from a surrogate mother, blackface ewe, which was used as an egg donor and carried the cloned Dolly during gestation (pregnancy). An egg cell from the surrogate was removed, and its nucleus (which contains DNA) was replaced with one from a Finn Dorset ewe. The resulting new egg was placed in the blackface ewe's uterus after stimulation with an electric pulse. The electrical pulse stimulated growth and cell duplication. The blackface ewe subsequently gave birth to the all-white Dolly. The newborn all-white Finn Dorset ewe was an identical genetic twin of the Finn Dorset that contributed to the new nucleus.

Recombinant DNA. Another significant genetic engineering technique involves recombinant DNA. Human genes transferred to host organisms, such as bacteria, produce products coded for by the transferred genes. Human insulin and human growth hormone can be produced using this technique. Desired genes are removed from human cells and placed in circular bacterial DNA strips called plasmids. Scientists use enzymes to prepare these DNA formulations, ultimately splicing human genes into bacterial plasmids. These plasmids are used as vectors, taken up and reproduced by bacteria. This type of genetic adaptation results in insulin production if the spliced genes were taken from the part of the human genome producing insulin; other cells and substances, coded for by different human genes, can be produced this way. Many biological medicines are produced using recombinant DNA technology.

Messenger RNA. Messenger RNA, or mRNA, was discovered in the 1960s. It is a single-strand ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecule that is complementary to one of a gene's DNA strands. The mRNA travels from the cell nucleus to the cytoplasm, where proteins are made, resulting in proteins specific to the mRNA. In vaccines to combat COVID-19, for example, genetically engineered mRNA prompts the production of a protein related to a small part of the virus to trigger an immune response. Early efforts to develop mRNA vaccines were defeated because the mRNA degraded before it could create protein production. Nanotechnology advances led to the use of fatty droplets to coat the mRNA and allow it to enter cells.

Applications and Products

Medical Devices. Biomedical engineers produce life-saving medical equipment, including pacemakers, kidney dialysis machines, and artificial hearts. Synthetic limbs, artificial cochleas, and bionic sight chips are among the prosthetic devices that biomedical engineers have developed to enhance mobility, hearing, and vision. Medical monitoring devices, developed by biomedical engineers for use in intensive care units and surgery or by space and deep-sea explorers, monitor vital signs such as heart rate and rhythm, body temperature, and breathing rate.

Equipment and Machinery. Biomedical engineers produce a wide variety of other medical machinery, including laboratory equipment and therapeutic equipment. Therapeutic equipment includes laser devices for eye surgery and insulin pumps (sometimes called artificial pancreas) that both monitor blood sugar levels and deliver the appropriate amount of insulin when it is needed.

Imaging Systems. Medical imaging provides important machinery devised by biomedical engineers. This specialty incorporates sophisticated computers and imaging systems to produce computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET) scans. In naming its National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), the US Department of Health and Human Services emphasized the equal importance and close relatedness of these subspecialties by using both terms in the department's name.

Computer programming provides important circuitry for many biomedical engineering applications, including systems for differential disease diagnosis. Advances in bionics, moreover, rely heavily on computer systems to enhance vision, hearing, and body movements.

Biomaterials.Biomaterials, such as artificial skin and other genetically engineered body tissues, are areas promising dramatic improvements in the treatment of burn victims and individuals needing organ transplants. Bionanotechnology, another subfield of biomedical engineering, promises to enhance the surface of artificial skin by creating microscopic messengers that can create the sensations of touch and pain. Bioengineers interface with the fields of physical therapy, orthopedic surgery, and rehabilitative medicine in the fields of splint development, biomechanics, and wound healing.

Medications. Medicines have long been synthesized artificially in laboratories, but chemically synthesized medicines do not use human genes in their production. Medicines produced by using human genes in recombinant DNA procedures are called biologics and include antibodies, hormones, and cell receptor proteins. Some of these products include human insulin, the hepatitis B vaccine, and human growth hormone.

Bacteria and viruses invading a body are attacked and sometimes neutralized by antibodies produced by the immune system. Diseases such as Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel condition, and psoriatic arthritis are conditions exacerbated by inflammatory antibody responses mounted by the affected person's immune system. Genetic antibody production in the form of biological medications interferes with or attacks mediators associated with Crohn's and arthritis and improves these illnesses by decreasing the severity of attacks or decreasing the frequency of flare-ups.

Cloning and Stem Cells. Cloned human embryos could provide embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells have the potential to grow into a variety of cells, tissues, and organs, such as skin, kidneys, livers, or heart cells. Organ transplantation from genetically identical clones would not encounter the recipient's natural rejection process, which transplantations must overcome. As a result, recipients of genetically identical cells, tissues, and organs would enjoy more successful replacements of key organs and a better quality of life. Human cloning is subject to future research and development, but the promise of genetically identical replacement organs for people with failed hearts, kidneys, livers, or other organs provides hope for enhanced future treatments.

Careers and Course Work

Biomedical engineers are employed as researchers and scientists, interfacing with various disciplines and specialties. Many career paths exist in biomedical engineering and bionics. Jobs exist for those holding bachelor's degrees through doctorates. Research scientists, usually with PhD or MD degrees, can work in various environments, from private companies to universities to government agencies, including the National Institutes of Health. Some private companies include Ekso Bionics and Ossur (Touch Bionics), Medtronic PLC, Edward Lifesciences Corporation, Cochlear, and NeuroPace Inc.

For example, a typical undergraduate biomedical engineering curriculum for University of Michigan students includes three divisions of course studysubjects required by all engineering programs, advanced science and engineering mathematics, and biomedical engineering courses. All engineering students take courses in calculus, basic engineering concepts, computing, chemistry, physics, and humanities or social sciences. Required courses in advanced sciences in the second division include biology, chemistry, biological chemistry, and engineering mathematics courses. Biomedical engineering courses in the third division cover circuits and electrical systems, biomechanics, engineering materials, cell biology, physiology, and biomedical design. Students can concentrate on biomechanical, biochemical, and bioelectric engineering, with some modifications in course selection. The breadth and depth of the course work emphasize the link between engineering and biological sciences—the essence of bionics and biomedical engineering.

A biomedical engineer develops and advances biomedical products and systems. This type of activity spans many specialties and presents many career opportunities. Biomedical engineering interfaces with almost every engineering discipline because bioengineered products require the breadth and depth of engineering knowledge. Major areas include the production of biomaterials, such as the type of plastic used for prosthetic devices. Bioinstrumentation involves computer integration in diagnostic machines and the control of devices. Genetic engineering presents many opportunities for life modifications. Clinical engineers help integrate new technologies, such as electronic medical records, into existing hospital systems. Medical imaging relieves the need for exploratory surgery and greatly enhances diagnostic capabilities. Orthopedic bioengineering plays an important role in prosthesis development and use and assists rehabilitative medicine. Bionanotechnology offers the hope of using microscopic messengers to treat illness and advanced capabilities for artificial bionic devices. Systems physiology organizes the multidisciplinary approach necessary to complete complex bionic projects such as a functioning artificial eye.

Social Context and Future Prospects

Bionics technologies include artificial hearing, sight, and limbs that respond to nerve impulses. Bionics offers partial vision to people who are blind and prototype prosthetic arm devices that offer movements through nerve impulses. Bionics aims to better integrate the materials in these artificial devices with human physiology to improve the lives of individuals with limb loss, blindness, or decreased hearing.

Twenty-first-century bionics and neuroprosthetics have progressed significantly, allowing prosthetics to function in natural, human-like ways. Microprocessor knees (MPKs) and ankles are much safer than their predecessors because of their increased control and stability. Carbon fibre and titanium make prosthetics stronger and lighter. Additionally, scientists created prosthetics that allow the user a sense of touch. Despite advancements, challenges, such as devices causing irritations or sharp, shock sensations, remain.

Cloned animals exist, but cloning is not yet a routine process. Technological advances offer rapid DNA analysis along with significantly lower-cost genetic analysis. Genetic databases are filled with information on many life forms, and new DNA sequencing information is added frequently. This basic information that has been collected is like a dictionary, full of words that can be used to form sentences, paragraphs, articles, and books, in that it can be used to create new or modified life forms.

Biomedical engineering enables human genetic engineering. The stuff of life, genes, can be modified or manipulated with existing genetic techniques. The power to change life raises significant societal concerns and ethical issues. Beneficial results such as optimal organ transplantations and effective medications are the potential of human genetic engineering. The success of COVID-19 vaccines has led to work to develop other mRNA vaccines, such as flu vaccines.

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