Sometimes, disciplines within BME are classified by their association(s) with other, more established engineering fields, which can include.
Chemical Engineering- Often associated with biochemical, cellular, molecular and tissue engineering, biomaterials, and biotransport.
Electrical Engineering- Often associated with bioelectrical and neural engineering, bioinstrumentation, biomedical imaging, and medical devices. This also tends to encompass Optics and.
Optical Engineering- Biomedical optics, imaging and related medical devices.
Mechanical Engineering- Often associated with biomechanics, biotransport, medical devices, and modeling of biological systems, like soft tissue mechanics.
CLINICAL ENGINEERING SPECIALITY
Clinical engineering is the branch of biomedical engineering dealing with the actual implementation of medical equipment and technologies in hospitals or other clinical settings. Major roles of clinical engineers include training and supervising biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs),, selecting technological products/services and logistically managing their implementation, working with governmental regulators on inspections/audits, and serving as technological consultants for other hospital staff (e.g. physicians, administrators, I.T., etc.). Clinical engineers also advise and collaborate with medical device producers regarding prospective design improvements based on clinical experiences, as well as monitor the progression of the state-of-the-art so as to redirect procurement patterns accordingly.
PHAMACEUTICAL ENGINEERING SPECIALITY
Pharmaceutical Engineering is sometimes regarded as a branch of biomedical engineering, and sometimes a branch of chemical engineering; in practice, it is very much a hybrid sub-discipline (as many BME fields are). Aside from those pharmaceutical products directly incorporating biological agents or materials, even developing chemical drugs is considered to require substantial BME knowledge due to the physiological interactions inherent to such products’ usage.
MEDICAL DEVICES SPECIALITY
This is an extremely broad category — essentially covering all health care products that do not achieve their intended results through predominantly chemical (e.g., pharmaceuticals) or biological (e.g., vaccines) means, and do not involve metabolism.
A medical device is intended for use in:
The diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or
In the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease
GENETIC ENGINEERING SPECIALTY
Genetic engineering uses the techniques of molecular cloning and transformation to alter the structure and characteristics of genes directly. Genetic engineering techniques have found success in numerous applications. The manufacture of synthetic human insulin through the use of modified bacteria, the manufacture of erythropoietin in hamster ovary cells, and the production of new types of experimental mice such as the oncomouse (cancer mouse) for research.