The Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering stream is offered jointly with the Department of Materials and focuses on the design and synthesis of new materials that will be used as implants or prostheses.
Key to implant development is the understanding of how the material design affects biological response. An example is total joint replacement: understanding materials selection and properties and the advantages and disadvantages of their use and long term effects.
Another example is the design of temporary templates (scaffolds) that can act as guides for tissue repair and can signal stem cells depending on their surface chemistry and topography. Depending on their design, materials can be degradable, can stimulate tissue growth at the cellular level and can release drugs at controlled rates.
The design of the material is very specific to the tissue that is being repaired or the drug being delivered. Techniques for imaging the cell-material interactions are also important.
Course structure
C=core element, S=specialist element.
Compulsory modules
- MSE315 Biomaterials (S)
- MSE418 Advanced tissue engineering (S)
- MSE417 Advanced biomaterials (S)
- BE9-MSPHYS Systems physiology (C)
- BE9-MSTDA Statistics and data analysis (C)
- BE9-MBIMG Biomedical imaging (C)
- BE9-MMDC Medical Device Certification (C)
- BE9-MJCLUB Journal club (C)
Option modules (at least two must be chosen)
- BE9-MBMX Biomechanics (S)
- BE9-MBMIME Biomimetics (S)
- BE9-MAMI Advanced medical imaging (S)
- BE3-HIPR Image processing (S)
- BE9-MHEDM Health economics and decision making (S)
- BE3-MHASP Hearing and speech processing (S)
- BE9-MOBMX Orthopaedic biomechanics (S)
- BE9-MAPMDA Advanced physiological monitoring and data analysis (S)
- BE9-MITR Introduction to Robotics (S)