page_title: Biomedical engineering
section_title: Tissue engineering
hierarchical_section_title: Biomedical engineering / Tissue engineering
caption_attribution_description: English: Alcian blue stained micromass cultures of C3H-10T1/2 cells at different oxygen tensions. by en:User:Cquan (2006)
context_page_description: Biomedical engineering or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes. BME is also traditionally known as "bioengineering", but this term has come to also refer to biological engineering. This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine, combining the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical biological sciences to advance health care treatment, including diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy. Also included under the scope of a biomedical engineer is the management of current medical equipment within hospitals while adhering to relevant industry standards. This involves making equipment recommendations, procurement, routine testing and preventive maintenance, a role also known as a Biomedical Equipment Technician or as clinical engineering.
  Biomedical engineering has recently emerged as its own study, as compared to many other engineering fields. Such an evolution is common as a new field transitions from being an interdisciplinary specialization among already-established fields, to being considered a field in itself.
context_section_description: Tissue engineering, like genetic engineering (see below), is a major segment of biotechnology – which overlaps significantly with BME.
  One of the goals of tissue engineering is to create artificial organs (via biological material) for patients that need organ transplants. Biomedical engineers are currently researching methods of creating such organs. Researchers have grown solid jawbones and tracheas from human stem cells towards this end. Several artificial urinary bladders have been grown in laboratories and transplanted successfully into human patients. Bioartificial organs, which use both synthetic and biological component, are also a focus area in research, such as with hepatic assist devices that use liver cells within an artificial bioreactor construct.
caption: Micromass cultures of C3H-10T1/2 cells at varied oxygen tensions stained with Alcian blue.
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