Biotransport in Biomedical Engineering Course at UPRM

Rubén E. Díaz-Rivera, Ph.D.Department of Mechanical Engineering

University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez

Course Info INME 5015/6065: Principles of Biomedical

Engineering

3 credit hours, professional elective in ME

Advanced undergraduate/graduate level course

Popular with student in ME, EE, & ChemE

Typical enrollment: 15-20 students

Course Objectives Describe several sub-areas of Biomedical

Engineering and the principles and applications that drive these sub-areas

Recognize the challenges and directions of the most dynamic core areas in Biomedical Engineering

Apply mechanics concepts (e.g. transport phenomena) to biological or medical problems

Course Textbook Multiple textbooks

“Introduction to Biomedical Engineering”, J. Enderle et al.

“Biomaterials: The intersection of Biology and Material Science”, J.S. Temenoff & A.G. Mikos

“Transport Phenomena in Biological Systems”, G.A. Truskey et al.

“Bioimpedance and Bioelectricity”, S. Grimmes & Ø.G. Martinsen

“Introduction to Bioengineering”, S.A. Berger et al.

“Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer”, F.P. Incropera et al.

“Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach”, Y.A. Çengel & M.A. Boles

Topics History of biomedical engineering FDA and ethical issues Basic biology Biomaterials Biomechanics Biofluid mechanics Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics in Bio-

systems Mass Transfer in Bio-systems Bioelectric Phenomena

Educational Strategy Lectures Homework Plant tours

Zimmer, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Life Scan

Group Project

Educational Strategy Group Project

The purpose of the group project is to select a product from a recognized Biomedical Engineering company, compare it against similar products on the market, and develop an improved device based on the students engineering background and the engineering fundamentals learned in class.

The project is divided into several tasks

Improvement of Drug Eluting Stents Objectives

Analyze the of mass transport of the Drug Eluting Stent manufactured by Cordis (CYPHER)

Improve mass transport by proposing polymeric nanoparticles as an alternative for drug release

Manufactured by Cordis LLC, San German, Puerto

Rico Device Class 3

Product Code NIQ

Submission Type PMA

M. Alvarez-Berríos, M. García-Jiménez, Chemical Engineering at UPRM

Improvement of Drug Eluting Stents

M. Alvarez-Berríos, M. García-Jiménez, Chemical Engineering at UPRM

2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5

0

0.005

0.01

0.015

0.02

0.025

0.03

Radius (mm)

Rel

ease

Rat

e (n

g/s)

Release rate concentration as a function of radius and length

Concentration profile for the drug in the blood a function of time when using the stent (Co = 0.0226 g/cm3)

Outcomes

Positive Negative This course puts the students

right outside their comfort zone, which stimulates their creativity

The students get to tackle real life problems (or close to it)

Students realize that they can solve biological/medical related problems w/ their engineering background

Some students are not used to have such freedom in selecting the appropriate problem to solve and end up missing the relevance of the assignment

Most of the biotransport material is covered late in the semester

Undergrads feel they don’t have the appropriate tools (e.g. COMSOL Multiphysics) to solve some of the proposed problems

Thanks!