Biomedical Engineering

The Biomedical Engineering programme trains professionals who apply their knowledge of the human body and their engineering skills to biomedical issues. Professionals develop a suitable biomedical engineering product, or improve or validate a current product.

Biomedical engineers contribute to products that are used to examine sick or healthy bodies to enhance monitoring, prevention, diagnosis, treatment or aftercare. As a result, they become multifaceted professionals that are active in a broad range of companies and institutions. They can be employed with Philips or other medical product developing companies as part of the product development team. They can also make a contribution to new biomedical engineering solutions, e.g. in a research role, in an R&D laboratory. With institutions where biomedical products are used to benefit health among patients, such as care homes, a biomedical engineer can fill an advisory role.

National Educational Programme

Body of Knowledge & Skills

Knowledge

Biology

• Biochemistry: cell regulation, biochemical reactions, bio-potentials, cellular processes, DNA replication, transcription, translation, prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, energy supply, cell biology
• Physiology: metabolism, respiration, heat balance, excretion
• Anatomy: anatomical terminology, levels of organs in the human body, constitution and function of organ systems and skeleton, constitution and development of central nervous system, bio-mechanics
• Pathology: mechanisms of cell division and cell regulation, oncology, immunology, receptor-ligand kinetics, age-related diseases

Physics

• Electronics: electromagnetism, basic network theory (Ohm and Kirchhoff), signal analysis, linear time-invariant (LTI) systems
• Mechanics: laws of motion, biomechanics, motion analysis
• Optics: light, imaging, image analysis, microscopy
• Thermodynamics: conduction, radiation, thermal effects on the human body
• Materials science: strength theory, physical material properties
• Process dynamics and simple process description: measurement and control engineering
• Fluid theory: viscosity, density
• Radiation: atomic theory, ionising radiation, gamma radiation

Chemistry

• Basic chemistry: atomic constitution, reaction equations, chemical arithmetic, reactions in water, kinetics, chemical equilibrium
• Materials science: organic and polymer chemistry (synthesis, functional groups and reactions), chemical material properties
• Chemical basis of electronics

Mathematics

• Calculus: integration, differentiation, logarithms, complex numbers, powers, equations, Fourier and Laplace transformations
• Basic trigonometry: solve, reduce and differentiate functions, unit circle
• Statistics: data processing, normal distribution and confidence intervals, testing, descriptive statistics.

Ethics, laws and regulations, working in the medical domain

• Healthcare: organisation, trends and innovation and clinical practice
• Ethics: moral dilemmas in professional practice, privacy, data storage of personal data
• Safety, management, legislation: quality control (systems), management aspects, (patient) safety, performing risk analyses
• Patents, legislation and standards: CE certification, ISO standards, GMO legislation

Skills

• Research skills: Problem analysis, research questions, literature review, research planning and execution, systematic problem approach, quantitative and qualitative research skills
• Professional skills: Collaborating, having meetings, project-based work, planning, oral and written communication skills, providing, receiving and processing feedback, reflecting
• Product development skills: Going through the development cycle: iteration, reverse engineering, fast prototyping, assembly
• Programming and modelling: Creating flowcharts, Python programming, Excel modelling, data analysis, data mining, CAD drawing
• General laboratory skills: weighing, pipetting, mixing solutions (buffers and culture media) and specimens, keeping a lab journal, chemical arithmetic, microscopy, working with biological materials and bio-molecules
• Working with standard laboratory equipment: pH meter, centrifuge, voltage sources and meters, microscope, fume cupboard, electrophoresis equipment, safety cabinet, soldering station, 2D/3D production technology
• Working safely in the (technical) laboratory: working according to health and safety, VMT (veilige microbiologische technieken) and GLP (good laboratory practice) rules

The Body of Knowledge and Skills is a summary of graduates’ basic knowledge and basic skills which has been prepared by the HBO-programmes in consultation with the professional field. These are obtained during the first two years of education.