Biomedical, Biomechanics and Bioelectronics Engineering MSc

The MSc programmes in Biomedical Engineering are full-time courses, lasting one academic year of 12 consecutive months, from September to September.

The programmes consist of four core (compulsory) taught modules and two optional streams. The Biomedical, Genetics and Tissue Engineering stream has three optional modules. The second stream, Biomedical, Biomechanics and Bioelectrionics Engineering, consists of five optional modules. Students choosing this latter option will be requires to choose 60 credit worth of modules. See below.

The taught modules are delivered to students over two terms; Term 1 (September – December) and Term 2 (January – April) of each academic year. The taught modules are examined at the end of each term, and the students begin working on their dissertations on a part-time basis in term 2, then full-time during the months of May to September.

Compulsory Modules

Biomechanics and Biomaterials

Main topics include: review of biomechanical principles; introduction to biomedical materials; stability of biomedical materials; biocompatibility; materials for adhesion and joining; applications of biomedical materials; implant design.

Biomedical Engineering Principles

Main topics include: bone structure and composition; the mechanical properties of bone, cartilage and tendon; the cardiovascular function and the cardiac cycle; body fluids and organs; organisation of the nervous system; sensory systems; biomechanical principles; biomedical materials; biofluid mechanics principles, the cardiovascular system, blood structure and composition, modelling of biofluid systems.

Design and Manufacture

Main topics include: design and materials optimisation; management and manufacturing strategies; improving clinical medical and industrial interaction; meeting product liability, ethical, legal and commercial needs.

Innovation, Management and Research Methods

• Company structure and organisation (with particular reference to the United Kingdom),and the interfacing between hospital, clinical and healthcare sectors; review of existing practice: examination of existing equipment and devices; consideration of current procedures for integrating engineering expertise into the biomedical environment.
• Discussion of management techniques; design of biomedical equipment: statistical procedures and data handling; matching of equipment to biomedical systems; quality assurance requirements in clinical technology; patient safety requirements and protection; sterilisation procedures and infection control; failure criteria and fail-safe design; maintainability and whole life provision; public and environmental considerations: environmental and hygenic topics in the provision of hospital services; legal and ethical requirements; product development: innovation in the company environment, innovation in the clinical environment; cash flow and capital provision; testing and validation; product development criteria and strategies.

Dissertation

Your choice of dissertation topic is made in consultation with academic staff and (where applicable) with the sponsoring company. The topic agreed is also subject to approval by the Module Co-ordinator. The primary requirement for the topic is that it must have sufficient scope to allow the student to demonstrate his or her ability to conduct a well-founded programme of investigation and research. It is not only the outcome that is important since the topic chosen must be such that the whole process of investigation can be clearly demonstrated throughout the project. In industrially sponsored projects the potential differences between industrial and academic expectations must be clearly understood.

• Sensors and instrumentation – Sensor characteristics and the principles of sensing; electronic interfacing with sensors; sensor technologies – physical, chemical and biosensors; sensor examples – position, displacement, velocity, acceleration, force, strain, pressure, temperature; distributed sensor networks; instrumentation for imaging, spectroscopy and ionising radiation detection; 'lab-on-a-chip'.
• Control – Control theory and matrix/vector operations; state-space systems, multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) systems, nonlinear systems and linearization. Recurrence relations, discrete time state-space representation, controllability and observability, pole-placement for both continuous and discrete time systems, Luenberger observer. Optimal control systems, Stochastic systems: random variable theory; recursive estimation; introduction to Kalman filtering (KF); brief look at KF for non-linear systems and new results in KF theory.

Artificial Organs

Main topics include: audiology and cochlear implants; prostheses; artificial limbs and rehabilitation engineering; life support systems; robotic surgical assistance; telemedicine; nanotechnology.

Biofluid Mechanics

Main topics include: review of the cardiovascular system; the cardiac cycle and cardiac performance, models of the cardiac system, respiratory system and respiratory performance, lung models, physiological effects of exercise, trauma and disease; blood structure and composition, blood gases, oxygenation, effect of implants and prostheses, blood damage and repair, viscometry of blood, measurement of blood pressure and flow; urinary system: anatomy and physiology, fluid and waste transfer mechanisms, urinary performance and control, effects of trauma, ageing and disease; modelling of biofluid systems, review of mass, momentum and energy transfers related to biological flow systems, fluid mechanics in selected topics relating to the cardiovascular and respiratory systems; measurements in biomedical flows.

• Principle and applications of medical image processing – Basic image processing operations, Advanced edge-detection techniques and image segmentation, Flexible shape extraction, Image restoration, 3D image reconstruction, image guided surgery
• Introduction of modern medical imaging techniques – Computerised tomography imaging (principle, image reconstruction with nondiffracting sources, artifacts, clinical applications)
• Magnetic resonance imaging (principle, image contrast and measurement of MR related phenomena, examples of contrast changes with changes of instrumental parameters and medical applications)
• Ultrasound imaging (description of ultrasound radiation, transducers, basic imaging techniques: A-scan, B-scan and Doppler technique; clinical application)
• Positron emission tomography (PET imaging) (principle, radioactive substance, major clinical applications).

Microcontroller technologies. Data acquisition. Interfacing to power devices. Sensors (infrared, ultrasonic, etc.). Optoelectronic devices and signal conditioning circuits. Pulse and timing-control circuits. Drive circuits. Electrical motor types: Stepper, Servo. Electronic Circuits. Power devices. Power conversion and power electronics. Line filters and protective devices. Industrial applications of digital devices.

Read more about the structure of postgraduate degrees at Brunel and what you will learn on the course.