In the mid-'80s, a new fear hit the medical community. All of a sudden,
the blood supply was under attack from all sides. The culprit? HIV -- a new
virus that infiltrated the supply through infected donors. Suddenly everyone
was pointing fingers.
While today's suppliers are offering guarantees to the public of immaculate
screening and multiple tests, at least one company's researchers are moving
in a different direction -- trying to create artificial blood.
"It has a longer shelf life and you don't have to cross-match the blood
type," says Peter Wojciechowski, a manager and biochemical process engineer.
"Also, it's essentially virus-free."
It's this kind of work in the multidisciplinary field of biomedical engineering
that makes Wojciechowski feel like he's producing something meaningful for
society.
"I think the motivation for me is to be able to work with a diverse group
of people -- doctors, biologists and engineers. It's the interdisciplinary
nature of the work that I really like."
But that love is also his challenge. It's difficult to express ideas and
concepts when each discipline has its own jargon.
Wojciechowski remembers a time when a chemist wanted him to work on a mathematical
model of cellular growth. "Then he said, 'But whatever you do, don't use any
of those squiggly things!' In other words, he didn't want me to subject him
to the pain of the calculus."
And then there's the trust factor. "The problem is you have to build up
your credibility slowly over time. What you're trying to do is explain to
other people what took you four to eight years of schooling to understand."
The work of biomedical engineers is as varied as the human body itself.
While Wojciechowski works with blood, Dr. Steve Goldstein has used his talents
in the field of orthopedic surgery. Goldstein holds a joint appointment in
biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering.
He worked with a colleague on altering how wounds can be healed through
the pharmaceutical application of DNA. The DNA is placed into the wound site,
and then aids the body in producing its natural cells. In other words, the
implanted DNA actually stimulates new bone growth.
It's a dynamic profession, one that challenges the mind to not only keep
up with technology -- but to think through it and past it.
"That's the characteristic of a scientific career. I've done a number of
things in the past 15 years, and some of them are certainly unexpected," says
Goldstein.
In addition to the challenge of science, there's also the knowledge that
unlike some areas of engineering, the work you are doing actually helps people.
Katherine Crewe is a biomedical engineer. "As a young person, I was always
interested in medicine but never had the marks to get into a medical program,"
says Crewe. Now she's a biomedical engineer and vice-president of a company
working on manufacturing stents, a device used to keep blood vessels open.
Once Crewe got her degree in engineering, she went into the pump industry.
But it didn't take long before she knew it wasn't for her. She returned to
school to get her master's degree in biomedical engineering, and from there
moved into research and development work.
"I've always been interested in medical areas, and now I get to work with
physicians at the hospital and see how a product gets used. It's always very
collaborative work with engineers from other disciplines, and also other scientists."
One thing everyone agrees on is that biomedical engineering offers no room
for error.
"Students always talk about how they passed. Well, in this business, it's
not like you can get 60 percent or 80 percent. You have to get 100 percent.
There's no margin for error," says Crewe.
Anthony Chan is a biomedical engineer and teacher. "You have to make sure
that things are compatible because in many cases you're quite close to dealing
with life-and-death situations," he says.
That's why some areas within biomedical technology are so controversial.
When you're implanting a foreign object into someone's body, it better work.
Court cases on deteriorating silicone implants, faulty pacemakers and intrauterine
devices (IUDs) aren't run of the mill, but they're out there.
"It's certainly a controversial field, especially in the area of safety,"
says Jin-Shee Lee, the chair of the Council of Societies.
"For instance, with the pacemaker, it's difficult for us to make the heart
work much better than what is originally meant to be provided by our bodies.
Industry works hard to improve the pacemaker, but there's no absolute safety.
We just hope that what is used improves the quality of life," says Lee.