Biomedical Engineering

A more fundamental understanding of human physiology down to the molecular and cellular levels has expanded the scope of the field originally known as Medical Electronics into the area of expertise called Biomedical Engineering, which is broadly supported by various disciplines in engineering, medicine, and biology.

Biomedical Engineering is a multidisciplinary field that integrates fundamental engineering concepts with medicine and biology to improve human health. This integration has produced various new devices that are now widely used to improve the quality and delivery of healthcare. Advances in biology have contributed significantly to this field, leading to new medical instruments capable of measuring various parameters of the human body down to the cellular and molecular levels at the nanoscale. These developments have created a need for professionals with strong foundations in biology, medical science, and engineering to apply this knowledge to device development.

At ITB, research in medical electronics began in the Department of Electrical Engineering in the early 1970s. This work subsequently continued through the research program of the Inter-University Center for Microelectronics, focusing on two application areas: industrial electronics and medical electronics. In the late 1990s, a master's program in Biomedical Engineering was introduced as part of the electronics track. This specialization has since evolved in accordance with ITB's regulations and curriculum structure into its current form, managed by the Biomedical Engineering Research Group (KK-BME) within STEI ITB. The growing demand for new healthcare devices is expected to provide momentum for advancing this field and strengthening collaboration among related disciplines.

In Proceedings of the IEEE Celebrates a Century: Special editorial features and centennial events are under way, one of the fields expected to grow in the future is the integration and synergy of nano-bio-info-cogno (NBIC) technologies. These four areas (nano-bio-info-cogno) are already being partially explored by several Research Groups (KK) within STEI.