My Field of Study

The field that I am studying is biomedical engineering. Students studying this learn all of the skills that an engineering major learns but also learn a wide range of biology, bioengineering systems, and biosciences. Some of the main focuses of this field are developing prostheses, tissue growth, and developing new medical equipment. People who receive this degree often will work in hospitals, medical clinics, for the manufacturers of prostheses, or will do research.

The thing that attracted me to this field was the topics and the possibilities. I enjoy biosciences and this is a great application of them. The possibilities are also endless for this field. There is going to be so much new technology and processes developed in the next 20 years. It is going to change how hospitals are run and the quality of peoples' lives and I want to be a part of that.

Currently some of the top companies for making surgery equipment and prostheses are Aptus Endosystems, Atricure, CardioKinetix, and Cryovascular. They are considered some of the top companies because of the progress they have made with surgical techniques and machinery. An example is Aptus Endosystems produces the Heli-FX Anchor System which is used in heart surgery. The main journals where articles are posted are Nature Biotechnology, Nature Nanotechnology, and Nano Letters. Nature Biotechnology and Nature Nanotechnology are made in the United Kingdoms while Nano Letters is made in the United States. Other countries produce their own journals but these are three of the main ones.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/image/62421

Reflection:
One of the posts that I read was Katie Lista's post about biology. I found it very interesting because biology is similar to my field of study. In her post she also pointed out about dental problems causing other health problems and I had heard a little about that from my cousins who are chiropractors. They are convinced that there is a relationship between hip alignment and jaw alignment and her post made me think about that. Another post that I read and was interested in was Lekha Chesnick's post. I understand why she would want to try and get medical care to third world countries because I have been to a couple and seen the lack of it. In rural villages they only have access to a doctor once every two weeks at the most. If they experience any serious issues they have to travel hours and miles to get to the closest villages in hope of finding help there. That is a very inhumane system.