Description
Aims:
The module aims to teach students principles of living systems and how to apply them to solve challenges particularly within healthcare. By presenting different facets of state-of-the-art medicine, ranging from tissue engineering to cancer immunotherapy, the module seeks to develop a holistic, systems-based view in students so that they may recognise and exploit the complexity inherent in biological systems to design nature-inspired bioengineering solutions.Ìý
Synopsis:
This module introduces the application of the nature inspired solution methodologies to tackle medical challenges. In recognition of biological complexity, this module highlights the importance of adopting a holistic, systems-based perspective, which is different from the reductionistic paradigm that dominates modern biology. Drawing from cutting-edge research, specific topics ranging from cancer immunotherapy to biomaterials and tissue engineering are covered to demonstrate how problems can be solved in an interdisciplinary, nature-inspired manner.
Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, the students are able to:
- Draw lessons from biology and nature to improve, intensify and innovate engineering solutions to biomedical problems.
- Understand how systems thinking can complement reductionism in bioengineering applications.
- Understand essential systems-based concepts, such as emergence and collective behaviour, in the context of biological systems and medicine.
- Exploit concepts from other disciplines, such as mathematics and architecture, to extract engineering principles from biological systems.
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Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.
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