BMEG 573 - Magneto Bio-Engineering

3 Credit(s)

Magneto Bioengineering is a fast-developing field of research , its practical and environmental aspects being a topic of ever-increasing number of applications encompassing the field of biomedical engineering including but not limited to MRI ) magnetic Resonance Imaging ), magnetic therapy, neural stimulation, magnetic field treatment for nonunion (fractures that fail to heal ) and so on. At the same time, physically, the biological effects of weak magnetic fields or Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) magnetic fields are still regarded as a paradox. This course deals with such issues and fills in the theoretical gap in biomedical engineering. It reviews and analyzes the experimental evidence that yields useful insights into the primary physical processes of magneto-reception and the frequency and amplitude spectra of the action of weak magnetic fields in living system and hence the course addresses important issues in biomedical engineering. Also, the course reviews the available hypothetical mechanisms for that action as applicable to the field of biomedical engineering. Besides this the presence of magnetic crystal s in certain species of prokaryotes as well as in birds (for migration ) and in humans is still under active investigation and is also covered in this course as a possible way of exploiting such information for application in biomedical engineering.