BME 480QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Engineering process - Answers - Identify the need -> Invent solution-> Implement->
Goal: to address societal needs through technology
Scientific method - Answers - Observation -> Hypothesis -> Experiment & Refinement -
>
Goal: to acquire knowledge
As a scientist, you will likely: - Answers - hypothesize, explain, discover
As an engineer, you will likely: - Answers - design, build, invent
Engineering turns (blank) into (blank) - Answers - descriptive models -> physical
systems
Science turns (blank) into (blank) - Answers - physical systems -> descriptive models
What biomedical engineering works with? - Answers - clinical devices, medical testing,
medical implants, tissue engineering, medical imaging, synthetic biology, nanomedicine,
genetic & molecular engineering, organ-on-a-chip
What makes biomedical engineering challenging? - Answers - Layers of protection:
various regulatory protections & stakeholders' interest (patients, providers, payers)
Translation - Answers - advancing toward commercial implementation
How much of the US government expenditures are health care related? - Answers -
Almost one fourth (or $1 trillion per year)
Translational biomedical engineering - Answers - The process of advancing biomedical
technology toward commercial implementation
Two models of innovation - Answers - Technology push and market pull
Technology push - Answers - "I wonder if this could be used for something..."
Invent solution -> implement -> identify the need
Market pull - Answers - "If only I had this thing..."
Identify the need -> invent solution -> implement
Medical need - Answers - Defined by the desired health outcome
(i.e. patient access to medical care, water-related diseases)
, Solution - Answers - Defined by applied technology
(i.e. patient transport, remote monitoring, robotic surgery; drinking water quality,
sanitation, waste disposal)
Implementation examples - Answers - For patient transport - MedEvac; For drinking
water quality - build infrastructure for water treatment
Need finding - Answers - Whose need, who finds it, and how? It all starts with
observations, which lead to: observation perspectives, observation methods, and
methods of documentation
Observation perspective - Answers - The patient: stress, pain, loss of functions, death
The provider: risk, malfunction, training needed
The payer: cost, inefficiency
Leading cause of death in developing countries - Answers - Perinatal conditions
Leading cause of death in developed countries - Answers - Cardiovascular diseases
Observation methods - Answers - Read published data, ask questions/interview, watch
people do stuff, work as part of a team
Broader considerations for observation methods - Answers - Consideration of other
perspectives, consideration of the entire cycle of care, consideration of ethics and
protection of privacy
Methods of documentation - Answers - Document all observations in a laboratory
notebook; "We should be sloppy enough so that unexpected things can happen, but not
so sloppy that we can't find out what we did" - Max Delbruck
Need screening - Answers - What is feasible to pursue? - Decision to pursue the
medical need or process of validating the chosen focus
Why would one decide not to pursue a medical need? - Answers - Because of analysis
of: disease fundamentals, treatment options, stakeholder perspective, markets
Disease fundamentals (need screening) - Answers - How difficult is the disease to
treat? What's the cost of treating it?
Treatment options (need screening) - Answers - Must take into account the cost of each
treatment type (i.e. lifestyle modifications are cheap, open surgery is expensive)
Market analysis (need screening) - Answers - Analyzing market segmentation, market
size, and market dynamics
Idea - Answers - A general description of the solution to the problem; notebook-worthy
Engineering process - Answers - Identify the need -> Invent solution-> Implement->
Goal: to address societal needs through technology
Scientific method - Answers - Observation -> Hypothesis -> Experiment & Refinement -
>
Goal: to acquire knowledge
As a scientist, you will likely: - Answers - hypothesize, explain, discover
As an engineer, you will likely: - Answers - design, build, invent
Engineering turns (blank) into (blank) - Answers - descriptive models -> physical
systems
Science turns (blank) into (blank) - Answers - physical systems -> descriptive models
What biomedical engineering works with? - Answers - clinical devices, medical testing,
medical implants, tissue engineering, medical imaging, synthetic biology, nanomedicine,
genetic & molecular engineering, organ-on-a-chip
What makes biomedical engineering challenging? - Answers - Layers of protection:
various regulatory protections & stakeholders' interest (patients, providers, payers)
Translation - Answers - advancing toward commercial implementation
How much of the US government expenditures are health care related? - Answers -
Almost one fourth (or $1 trillion per year)
Translational biomedical engineering - Answers - The process of advancing biomedical
technology toward commercial implementation
Two models of innovation - Answers - Technology push and market pull
Technology push - Answers - "I wonder if this could be used for something..."
Invent solution -> implement -> identify the need
Market pull - Answers - "If only I had this thing..."
Identify the need -> invent solution -> implement
Medical need - Answers - Defined by the desired health outcome
(i.e. patient access to medical care, water-related diseases)
, Solution - Answers - Defined by applied technology
(i.e. patient transport, remote monitoring, robotic surgery; drinking water quality,
sanitation, waste disposal)
Implementation examples - Answers - For patient transport - MedEvac; For drinking
water quality - build infrastructure for water treatment
Need finding - Answers - Whose need, who finds it, and how? It all starts with
observations, which lead to: observation perspectives, observation methods, and
methods of documentation
Observation perspective - Answers - The patient: stress, pain, loss of functions, death
The provider: risk, malfunction, training needed
The payer: cost, inefficiency
Leading cause of death in developing countries - Answers - Perinatal conditions
Leading cause of death in developed countries - Answers - Cardiovascular diseases
Observation methods - Answers - Read published data, ask questions/interview, watch
people do stuff, work as part of a team
Broader considerations for observation methods - Answers - Consideration of other
perspectives, consideration of the entire cycle of care, consideration of ethics and
protection of privacy
Methods of documentation - Answers - Document all observations in a laboratory
notebook; "We should be sloppy enough so that unexpected things can happen, but not
so sloppy that we can't find out what we did" - Max Delbruck
Need screening - Answers - What is feasible to pursue? - Decision to pursue the
medical need or process of validating the chosen focus
Why would one decide not to pursue a medical need? - Answers - Because of analysis
of: disease fundamentals, treatment options, stakeholder perspective, markets
Disease fundamentals (need screening) - Answers - How difficult is the disease to
treat? What's the cost of treating it?
Treatment options (need screening) - Answers - Must take into account the cost of each
treatment type (i.e. lifestyle modifications are cheap, open surgery is expensive)
Market analysis (need screening) - Answers - Analyzing market segmentation, market
size, and market dynamics
Idea - Answers - A general description of the solution to the problem; notebook-worthy
