Applying engineering concepts, methods and techniques to biology and medicine, biomedical engineering analyzes biological systems such as cells, tissues and organs, as well as the organization of these systems into integrated organisms, such as the human body. Instrumentation, computers, materials, diagnostic and therapeutic devices, artificial organs, prostheses, and medical information systems for use in medical research and practice are the basic materials of biomedical engineering.

Yin said the faculty search will focus on people with expertise in the areas of engineering of growth and remodeling, which encompasses many areas from embryology to growing new vessels, tissues, bone, and the healing of tissues after trauma such as a heart attack; molecular engineering, which covers the areas of genomics, bioinformatics, biopolymer structure and functions, biomaterials and computational biology; and neural engineering, a rapidly growing area that leverages the strengths of neuroscience to yield information about signal processing, sensory perception and motor control and neural imaging.

"The job outlook is outstanding for biomedical engineers, both in the medical profession and in industry," said Yin. "I think the medical profession, for one, benefits greatly from having physicians with a strong technical background. There are many challenges ahead in the biomedical field, and having the support of The Whitaker Foundation helps Washington University to meet those challenges."

Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott, a Boston architectural firm that specializes in buildings for the fields of education and medicine, has submitted a conceptual design for a three-story, 96,000-gross-square-foot biomedical engineering building, to be located southeast of the intersection of Hoyt Driv
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Contact: Tony Fitzpatrick
tony_fitzpatrick@aismail.wustl.edu
314-935-5272
Washington University in St. Louis
4-Nov-1999