STRUCTURE OF BIOLOGICAL

MATERIALS
ELEC ENG 3BA3
(Fall 2013)
CALENDAR:
Structure of natural and synthetic biomaterials, biocompatibility;
biomechanics; physiological fluid mechanics; drug delivery and artificial
organs; imaging of biological tissue structure.
Three lectures + one tutorial; first term.
Prerequisite: Registration in Level III Electrical and Biomedical Engineering.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
This course has three interleaved goals: i) to provide an introduction to
bioengineering from a basis of the structure and function of biological materials;
ii) to examine the structural foundations of several biomedical engineering
technologies (e.g., medical imaging, ECG & EEG, medical robotics) that will be
studied in later courses; and iii) to give an introduction to bioengineering topics
beyond the focus of the Electrical and Biomedical Engineering program (e.g.,
physiological fluid mechanics, biomechanics, biomaterials, biocompatibility, drug
delivery, artificial organs).
COURSE LOADING:

Lectures: 3 1-hour lectures per week

Tutorials: 1 1-hour tutorial per week

Reports, homework assignments: 2 hrs per week

Study time: 2 hours per week

Total hours per week: 8

CEAB WEIGHTING:
BS = 30%, ES = 70%

Dr. Ian C. Bruce

EE3BA3 Course Outline (Fall 2013)

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REFERENCES:

S. V. Madihally, Principles of Biomedical Engineering, Artech House, 2010.

S. A. Berger, E. W. Goldsmith, and E. R. Lewis, Introduction to Bioengineering,

Oxford University Press, 2000.

J. Enderle, S. Blanchard, and J. Bronzino, Introduction to Biomedical Engineering

(2nd ed.), Academic Press, 2005.

DETAILED COURSE CONTENT:

Introduction to Bioengineering (6 hours)

What is bioengineering?

What is biomedical engineering?

A short history of bioengineering

Approaches to bioengineering

Bioengineering at McMaster

Careers in bioengineering

Bioethics

Biomaterials (6 hours)

Biological materials

Man-made biomaterials

Biocompatibility

Biomechanics (6 hours)

Locomotion

Muscle biomechanics

Joint and limb biomechanics

Mechanics of biomaterials

Physiological Fluid Mechanics (6 hours)

Fundamentals of fluid mechanics

Blood flow in the circulatory system

Respiration

Dr. Ian C. Bruce

EE3BA3 Course Outline (Fall 2013)

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Drug Delivery, Biosensors and Artificial Organs (6 hours)

Drug delivery

Biosensors

Artificial organs

Foundations for Medical Imaging (6 hours)

Introduction to medical imaging

Attenuation of photonic energy

Planar x-ray imaging

X-ray computed tomography (CT)

Nuclear medicine imaging

Ultrasound

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

(Total Course = 36 hours)

COURSE POLICIES:
The instructor reserves the right to choose the format (i.e., written or oral) of any deferred
midterm or final exam in this course.
Please note that announcements concerning any type of graded material may be in any
format (e.g., announcements may be made only in class, via the course e-mailing list, or
on the course web site). Students are responsible for completing the graded material
regardless of whether they received the announcement or not.

CALCULATOR REQUIREMENT FOR TESTS AND EXAMINATIONS:

McMaster Standard Calculator (Casio fx991) only

Dr. Ian C. Bruce

EE3BA3 Course Outline (Fall 2013)

Page 3 of 4

FACULTY AND UNIVERSITY POLICY REMINDERS:

The Faculty of Engineering is concerned with ensuring an environment that is
free of all adverse discrimination. If there is a problem, that cannot be resolved by
discussion among the persons concerned, individuals are reminded they should
contact the Departmental Chair, the Sexual Harassment Officer or the Human
Rights Consultant, as soon as possible.
Academic dishonesty consists of misrepresentation by deception or by other
fraudulent means and can result in serious consequences, e.g. the grade of zero on
an assignment, loss of credit with a notation on the transcript (notation reads:
Grade of F assigned for academic dishonesty), and/or suspension or expulsion
from the university.
It is your responsibility to understand what constitutes academic dishonesty. For
information on the various kinds of academic dishonesty please refer to the
Academic Integrity Policy, specifically Appendix 3, located at:
http://www.mcmaster.ca/policy/StudentsAcademicStudies/AcademicIntegrity.pdf
The following illustrates only three forms of academic dishonesty:
1. Plagiarism, e.g. the submission of work that is not ones own or for which
other credit has been obtained.
2. Improper collaboration in group work.
3. Copying or using unauthorized aids in tests and examinations.
Latest Update July 5, 2013, by Dr. Ian C. Bruce

Dr. Ian C. Bruce

EE3BA3 Course Outline (Fall 2013)

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