Coordination of the Integrated Masters in Biomedical Engineering, (2) Higher Technical Institute, Technical University of Lisbon and (1) Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon

General aims of the course in “Integrated Masters in Biomedical Engineering”
Biomedical Engineering (EBM) is a multidisciplinary field that includes several different Basic and applied sciences.

EBM includes physics, chemistry mathematics and computer science, as well as the principles of engineering in order to study biology, medicine, behaviour and health. It establishes fundamental concepts; it creates knowledge from the molecular level to the level of organs; it develops materials, processes, and biological implants, innovative methods of instrumentation and computer science for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness, rehabilitation and health improvement.

Thus, EBM schematically covers the following fields:

Bioinstrumentation/Nanotechnologies, for diagnosis, the new biophysical therapies and sophisticated practices of surgery and clinical engineering and all the aspects of biomedical imagiology;

Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, connected to molecular and cell genetics, including the “nanobiochips” which will revolutionise the practices of moitoring organism fuctions with applications in diagnosis and in the prevention of pathological states;

Biomechanics and Biomaterials, fields that are directly related to Technologies of rehabilitation and the development and implanting of artificial organs;

Mathematical Modelling of Biological and Biophysical Systems, which allows the study of complex physiological systems, particularly in relation to the pathophysiology and ethiopathogenesis of illnesses, through advanced computational techniques;

Health Systems Management, which increasingly demands association between social and economic reality and systems technologies with a scientific base.

Partnerships
The EBM is at the cutting edge of technological and medical knowledge. Its development has allowed remarkable advancements in the possibility of medical care, namely in capacities for diagnosis, medicated therapy, surgery, rehabilitation and research, which are based on progressively more sophisticated technology. Increasing medical needs create increasing technological needs to allow more appropriate medical resources, generating new possibilities for intervention and so on successively. This spiral of resources and knowledge implies close partnerships between engineering and medicine. In relation to teaching it thus becomes essential for future engineers to be able to indulge in dialogue, from early on in their training, with those who directly intervene in health care.

Taking into account the need for articulation between the medical and technological fields, the Integrated Masters in Biomedical Engineering was conceived from the outset as a partnership between the Higher Technical Institute (IST), and the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL). As it is an engineering course, it is based in the IST, which has 80% of the teaching responsibility; the rest of the teaching is the responsibility of the FMUL. In the first cycle of studies each discipline is mainly lectured by only one of the two institutions. In the second cycle all the subjects are lectured in partnership between the two institutions, a criterion which is also applied to the need fro co-supervision of Masters and PhD theses.

Retrospective and Prospective
The Degree in Biomedical Engineering received its first students in the 2001/02 academic year. The course was adapted to the Bologna Process and was converted into an Integrated Masters course in 2005. In 2009/2010 55 places were opened for first year students. The employment rate for recent graduates is very high, and almost all of the students enter into employment compatible with their training two to three months after finishing the course.

Annual Encounter of Biomedical Engineering
The IST and the FMUL promote an annual biomedical engineering encounter in which several front line issues in this field are debated. The encounter is open to all students and former students of biomedical engineering and all those who wish to participate. Portuguese and international researchers of renowned merit in the field are invited to present communications. The Biomedical Engineering Encounter 2009 took place on the 14th of November in the Aula Magna of the FMUL. Detailed programme.

Integrated Masters in Biomedical Engineering

Ana M. Sebastião (1) (anaseb@fm.ul.pt),
Fernando Lopes da Silva (1,2) (silva@science.uva.nl)