Bioengineering

One of the questions I often receive here is, "So - what do you do exactly? What is this bioengineering thing all about?"

Here's what MIT has to say on the matter:

"The goal of this biological engineering discipline is to advance fundamental understanding of how biological systems operate and to develop effective biology-based technologies for applications across a wide spectrum of societal needs including breakthroughs in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, in design of novel materials, devices, and processes, and in enhancing environmental health."

In English, this means that bioengineering uses engineering principles (physics, chemistry, math) to better study and fix biological problems. These can range from:

-building better ways to study isolated liver tissue in order to assess toxicology before bringing out possibly dangerous drugs into clinical trials

-hacking the immune system in order to force antigen response to cancerous tumors

-using engineered viruses to bind inorganic materials in order to "build" batteries without toxic chemicals

Click here to watch a video delivered by Doug Lauffenburger, the head of the bioengineering program here at MIT. It's a great introduction to a particular facet of engineering.

This is an interview with Linda Griffith, the professor I worked for this past summer. The stuff that this department does just blows my mind...

If you are interested in viewing other Open Course Ware materials, click here for the youtube site. The great minds of MIT are being videotaped, and if you want to be astounded and amazed - this will do it. Forget David Blaine...this is the real deal.