Welcome to

BM101- Biology for Engineers

Jan-2020

Dr. Srivatsava Naidu

CBME
Room no: 326 – TC1
srivatsava.naidu@iitrpr.ac.in

Course coordinator
• PhD: Faculty of human medicine – University of
Giessen, Germany

• Postdoc:
– University of Dundee - UK
– Cancer Research UK - Manchester

• Research interests:
– Non – coding RNAs role and regulation in cancer
– Potential therapeutic options
 Structure
• Credits: 3-1-0-5-3 (core)
• Grades: Pass 35 % - Relative grading
• Tutorials: TA – Sheetanshu Saproo <2017bmz0008@iitrpr.ac.in>
• Class representative: Your choice
Q1 10
Assignments (10) 5
Feb 22 – Mar 01 mid-sem 20
Q2 10

mini-project with presentation (branch specific) 20 (4 pages max)

May 03– May 10 Endsem 30

>90 = 5; 85-90= 4; 80-

85 = 3; 75-80 = 2; 70 -
Attendance 5 75 = 1; < 70 = F

100
 Aim of the course

• Introduce fundamentals of modern biology to

Engineering graduates.
 At the end of the course

• Cell as a fundamental unit of life

• How the genetic information is processed and
passed over
• How cells communicate – Internally and
externally
• Introduction to human physiology
• Applications of modern biology
• Knowledge on basic experimental biology
 Course content
Module 1:
Modern biology: An interdisciplinary approach
Origin and organisation of life: Simple to complex
The chemistry of cell

Module 2:
Cell biology: Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes (Internal
architecture)
Cell division cycle and Replication
Transcription
Translation
Cell signalling and communication
Fundamentals of gene expression
Molecular basis of disease
Module 3:
Introduction to Physiology
Circulatory system
Respiratory system
Digestive system
Bioenergetics
Excretory system
Immune system

Module 4:
Fundamentals of genetic engineering
Stem cell technology and gene therapy

Module 5:
Introduction to experimental biology
Invited lectures (2)
Project
Why any Engineering student should learn Biology?
 Nature is the best engineer
• Any living organism in it’s current form is a product of evolution.

• A tinkerer works with no specific end in mind, collecting any

materials at his disposal, and rearranges them into a workable
object.

• At molecular level nature also tinkers with the basic building blocks
(genetic elements) to produce newer and better living species.

• Natural selection – may be the driving force.

• Understanding biological forms can inspire novel Engineering

"Evolution and Tinkering" (1977), by Francois Jacob
 Nature is the best engineer

A320
• Albatross – Largest flying bird
• The wings of the largest albatrosses
can be up to 11.2 ft.
• Spend most of their time in air !
• Wings has special mechanism to
maintain long distance cruising and
adjust to turbulence.
https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/news/en/2018/01/biomimicry--engineering-in-nature-s-style.html
Nature is the best engineer

• Sharks are faster aquatic creatures

• Special coatings on skin – reduces drag

• Special sharkskin-style coating can benefit

long-range aircraft like the A350XWB,
since its drag-reducing surface is
particularly effective during cruise flight
https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/news/en/2018/01/biomimicry--engineering-in-nature-s-style.html
 Nature is the best engineer

• Engineers have mimicked the shape of the whale fin and applied it to wind
turbines.

• The shape minimises the effect of air resistance so the blades can move
smoothly through the air as the wind blows them round, helping to generate
more electricity,
http://www.sciencemadesimple.co.uk/curriculum-blogs/biology-blogs/looking-to-nature-for-engineering-inspiration
• Cats have a reflective layer in their eyes, this is an advantage at night when cats are
hunting.

• Inventor Percy Shaw created the cat’s eye to be used on roads, mimicking the reflective
quality of the cat’s eye structure.

http://www.sciencemadesimple.co.uk/curriculum-blogs/biology-blogs/looking-to-nature-for-engineering-inspiration
• A quite common but most complex feature of our
brain is to learn new knowledge without
damaging the already acquired knowledge.
– Plasticity(respond to change) – Stability (preserve the
integrity)
– Independent decisions

• This forms the basis for Artificial neural networks

(ANN)
• Enormous scope for engineering in this domain

• The interface of biology and engineering has tremendous

potential to improve human life

• The application of engineering principles to the design,

analysis, construction, and manipulation of biological
systems.

Biomedical Engineering
 Application of Engineering to health care

Medical
Medical Imaging/ devices/Implants
Image processing
Bionanotechnology

Bioinstrumentation Bioinformatics

Biomedical Biomaterials
Engineering
Biomechanics
Clinical
Engineering

Bionics
Cell and Tissue
Engineering Rehabilitation
engineering

Computed Tomography or
CT scan
imaging method that combines
multiple X-ray projections taken
from different angles to produce
very precise 3-D views of viscera
and tissues
Image: Pancan.org
Michal Kvet et al. Brain Tumour Detection.
Image analysis clubbed with ML, can minimise errors and increase the sensitivity
Medical Imaging
MAGNETIC POSITRON EMISSION ULTRASOUND
RESONANCE TOMOGRAPHY (PET)
IMAGING (MRI) uses high frequency sound
waves to create images of
nuclear imaging technique that
Is a medical imaging the inside of the body. The
provides information about how
technology that uses ultrasound machine sends
tissues and organs are
radio waves and a sound waves into the body
functioning.
magnetic field to create and is able to convert the
detailed images of returning sound echoes
PET, uses a scanner and a small
organs and tissues. into a picture.
amount of radiopharmaceuticals
which is injected into a patient’s
vein to assist in making detailed,
computerized pictures of areas
inside the body.
Image source: Google
 Medical devices

A medical device is an instrument, machine, implant, in vitro reagent, or other

similar or related article, including any component, part, or accessory, which is—

• Intended for use in the diagnosis of disease, or in the cure

Google image
 Bioinstrumentation

Bioinstrumentation is the application of electronics and

measurement principles and techniques to develop devices used
in, research, diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Google image
 Polymers:

•Skin/Cartilage
•Lens
•Nanoparticles
•Drug delivery

Metals:
Ceramics:
Biomaterials •Orthopaedic related
•Dental implants •Dental implants
•Bone replacement

Silicon based:

•Implantable
micro-conductors
•Biosensors
 Cell and Tissue Engineering

Graft

Scaffolds
Gene therapy

Image source: Google

 Bionics

In medicine, the study of mechanical systems that function like living organisms
or parts of living organisms.

•Replacement or enhancement of organs or other body parts by mechanical

versions.

Image source: Google

 Computer Maths and
science statistics

Bioinformatics

Biology

• Information technology applied to the management and analysis of

biological data.

• Development of applications or algorithms

– To store and organise biological data
– to extract the massive information hidden in large biological data sets.
– Visualise
 Why Bioinformatics ?
• We have 6 billion nucleotides in a diploid cell

Find tcaacctgca in the seq

• Magnanimity
• Genomes sizes from million to
billions nucleotides
• Profiling data
• Arrays
• Spectral data of proteins and
other molecules
• Imaging data

• Big data analytics

Human keratin 5
 Components of Bioinformatics

• Databases
– Storage
– Organise
– Management
e.g. Gene bank, EMBL for DNA sequences: Swiss Prot, Uniport for proteins: PDB and SCOP
for protein structures

Can submit and retrieve data from these databases

• Software development
– Algorithms to analyse data
– Data mining
– Comparisons and predictions
– Determining relations
– Visualising
 Scope of Bioinformatics

Sequence analysis:
•Genome
•Proteome

Functional:
•Predictions Structure analysis:
•Expression analysis Bioinformatics •Building
•Pathway analysis •Predictions
•Interactions

Modelling:
•Structure
•Regulatory networks
•Simulations
 Application of Bioinformatics

Medicine:
•Personalised medicine

Agriculture:
Pharma
•Identification of Bioinformatics
industry
resistance varieties
•Drug discovery
•Pesticide management
• Interdisciplinary nature is mandate for Biomedical
Engineering
– Next generation requires more engineering into Biology
– Therefore, engineers need to have basic understanding of
biology.
Biomedical Engineering is one of the fastest growing in US
Job market.
 Books
• Bruce Alberts, Alexander Johnson , Julian Lewis , David Morgan, Martin Raff , Keith
Roberts , Peter Walter. Molecular Biology of the Cell, Garland Science; 2014 - 6th
edition. (for Molecular biology)
• Jeremy W. Dale , Malcolm von Schantz , Nicholas Plant. From Genes to Genomes:
Concepts and Applications of DNA technology, Wiley-Blackwell; 2011 - 3rd edition.
( for Genetic engineering)

• Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology; J.E. Hall; 12th edition; Saunders;
2010.

• Vander's Human Physiology; E.P. Widmaier, H. Raff and K.T. Strang; 14th Edition;
McGraw-Hill Higher Education; 2015.

• Kuby immunology; Judith A Owen; Jenni Punt; Sharon A Stranford; Patricia P

Jones; Janis KubyPublisher:New York :W.H. Freeman, ©2013.

Available in Library
 Assignment 1: 07-01-2020

• Potential of Artificial Intelligence in health

care
– Debate briefly pros and cons with examples
– Maximum 1 A4 page
– Hand written
– Zero score for any sort of copying or plagiarism
– Monday to Monday cycle
 Summary

• Structure and grading of the course

• Aim and outcomes of the course
• Content of the course
• Biomimetics – Nature as a source of inspiration for
Engineering
• Applications of various engineering domains for
health care, examples.