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Process Eng for Biomedical Technologies (BMEN90040)

Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)

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Overview

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Process engineering applies scientific principles to convert raw materials and energy into useful products, and it is critical to a variety of biomedical technologies including production of pharmaceuticals, dialysis, tissue engineering, etc. Core to process engineering is an understanding of how energy and mass move through systems – and how these can be controlled – to achieve a desired goal.

In this subject you will learn the fundamental laws that describe how heat and mass move through systems and develop mathematical models that describe this movement. We will then look at how this movement of energy and mass is applicable to the biomedical engineering discipline. Some of the topics covered are listed below:

  • How oxygen and nutrients travel through the human body to maintain homeostasis,
  • How cell culture and tissue engineering systems can be designed to provide sufficient nutrients and oxygen to maintain cell viability,
  • How dialysis can be used to remove contaminants from blood of patients suffering kidney failure,
  • How the presence of a bacterial biofilm limits the ability to treat biomedical device-related infections, and
  • How processes can be designed to produce products like pharmaceuticals.

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

  • Evaluate mass transfer in the context of biomedical engineering
  • Analyse the roles of transport processes in the cells, tissues and organ systems of the human body
  • Formulate problems in biological systems, identifying fundamental transport processes and the equations that describe these systems
  • Apply principles of transport to develop solutions to problems in process and biomedical engineering

Generic skills

  • Ability to communicate effectively, with the engineering team and with the community at large
  • Ability to manage information and documentation
  • Understanding of professional and ethical responsibilities, and commitment to them
  • Ability to function effectively as an individual and in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, as a team leader or manager as well as an effective team member
  • Ability to undertake problem identification, formulation and solution
  • Ability to utilise a systems approach to design and operational performance
  • Understanding of the principles of sustainable design and development
  • Capacity for independent critical thought, rational inquiry and self-directed learning

Last updated: 7 June 2024