Assignment 1

1) I chose to study bioengineering because I love both math and biology and this was the best subject I could find that used both. I am a pre-med student, but I chose bioengineering rather than any other major because I am interested in the subject. I wouldn't want to spend four years as an undergraduate student studying a topic that did not interest me. What's great about bioengineering is that not only does it involve both biology and math, but it is a highly diverse field with many paths to choose and many practical applications. The progress ocurring today in medical technology fascinates me.

2) I think a bioengineer is someone who uses engineering skills along with a knowledge of biology to solve problems in the medical field. Of course, bioengineers accomplish many other tasks as well. Bioengineering majors can become surgeons, lawyers, or even business owners, but the first image that comes to my mind when I think of a bioengineer is that of the researcher or technician.

3) If I had a chance to go back in time, I would help develop the process of angioplasty. The idea of using balloons and stents to expand clogged arteries is very creative. Medical technology keeps improving so that doctors can do more and more for their patients with fewer risks. Angioplasty is an excellent example of this; although the idea was ridiculed at first, it has become an important surgical procedure that makes treatment of heart disease much simpler and less dangerous than in the past. Since I cannot actually go back in time, the best I can do is to get involved in modern technological developments.

4) I want to learn about how and why things work. This begins with a basic knowledge of the sciences, encompassing chemistry, physics, and biology, all of which I took in high school and all of which I will study again in more detail in college. At a deeper level, I want to be knowledgeable about the kinds of medical technology in use today and how and why that technology works. I also want to learn a lot about the developing ideas of today so that I will be able to build the technology of tomorrow.

5) I want to acquire skills in communication, organization, planning, and technical ability. The most important skill taht anyone can have is that of communication, and this is true even for engineers, who often forget about communication while focusing on more technical skills. I know, however, that I will need to be able to explain my knowledge, give presentations, speak clearly to others, and write well in order to use my bioengineering degree with any success in any field. After communication skills, my next priority is to improve my organization skills and develop new methods of planning. I was not always organized in high school, but I knwo that I will only acquire more responsibilities in the future, and I want to be prepared for anything. Finally, I certainly want to improve my technical ability to work with laboratory equipment and engineering tools, whether they are physical objects or other tools like software. All of these skills will be useful after I graduate.

6) Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, under the leadership of Bioengineering Assistant Professor Dan Fletcher, have developed a cell phone microscope that takes color images of malaria parasites and tuberculosis bacteria, provided that the TB bacteria have been prepared with fluorescent markers (http://bioeng.berkeley.edu/cellscope/pioneers/mobile/fluorescent/imaging.php). The significance of their achievement is that the normally expensive and complicated process of flourescent microscopy can be carried out with a normal cell phone camera and a few relatively inexpensive accessories. The researchers believe that the new technology can be used in remote areas of the developing world by health care workers who lack more expensive equipment.
Advanced medical research is also happening right here at the University of Pennsylvania, where, among other accomplishments, researchers recently proved that one type of cell can be changed into another by adding the right kinds of RNA to the cell. I was particularly interested in the research article I found on the UC Berkeley site, however, because it seems particularly relevant at the moment. While politicians in Washington argue over why health care costs are so high and how to solve the problem, researchers have once again shown that sufficiently advanced technology can make anything affordable.

7) Although this may not be directly related to medical technolgoy at the level of the doctor's office and operating room, I have always been curious about molecular biology. The research I mentioned above at the University of Pennsylvania involving RNA is an example. In my high school biology class, I had a lot of fun learning about biology at the cellular level and how genetics translates into the properties and behaveior of living cells.