Biomedical Engineering at CIS
Three principal themes comprise the Biomedical Engineering research and educational program at CIS:
- representation and synthesis of complex shapes/scenes
- computationally efficient shape detection/recognition, and
- image formation and sensor modeling.
To convey the flavor and purpose of research in biomedical imaging science consider the first theme. Rapid development of imaging sensor technologies allows investigators in the physical and biological sciences to observe living systems and measure their structural and functional behavior across many scales--from global, aggregate behavior to the microscopic scale of sub-cellular structure. Combining biomedical imaging with computational modeling, we can infer, non-invasively, the structural and functional properties of complex biological systems. For example in computational neuropsychiatry researchers use these tools to study the cohorts of neuropsychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression, epilepsy, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases.
Given the complexity of problems in biomedical imaging, an understanding of both mathematics and neuroscience is essential. The curriculum is designed to prepare students to utilize modern tools in both theory and application. The program includes courses in molecular, cellular and systems biology as well as advanced mathematics. If students do not elect the Year 1 medical school courses, a possible core program is a two semester sequence taught by the JHU neuroscience community called Neuroscience and Cognition. Additional neurorscience courses are selected from the BME and Neuroscience departmental offerings as well as those of other relevant departments (Psychology and Brain Sciences, Cognitive Sciences). Mathematical and engineering courses such as Applied Mathematics for Engineers, Probability, Stochastic Processes and Random Signals etc will allow students to develop new methods that can be applied in biomedical imaging.
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