STATE OF THE ART
Exciting Times
By Arthur T. Johnson
W
hat an exciting time to be a bio-
based engineer! Biology is the
new frontier of technological prog-
ress, and it is difficult to fathom how much
is going on. Bioengineers, biomedical en-
gineers, biological engineers, and a host of
other engineers (whether with or without
some form of “biology” in their titles) who
use, adapt, or interface with some part of
biology are finding themselves at the fore-
front of modern technology. Furthermore,
there are vast numbers of opportunities for
creative solutions to problems important
to us all.
Take a look at the following list of ar-
eas of ­intense activity (not in any par-
ticular order).
▼▼ CRISPR. Short for “clustered regu-
larly interspaced short palindromic
repeats,” CRISPR has to be at the top
of the list because it is such a revolu-
tionary means to edit genomes (and
it will become even more powerful in
the near future).
▼▼ Artificial intelligence and artificial emotion-
al intelligence. These technologies will
allow innumerable smart devices that
can aid people, other living beings, and
environments to benefit from accumu-
lated knowledge that is more massive
than any single person could be ex-
pected to remember and apply.
▼▼ Brain functioning. We are now begin-
ning to understand in which parts of
the brain different behaviors and ac-
tions are initiated and controlled. The
knowledge from these studies can
help to cure diseases and overcome
neural limitations.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPUL.2017.2729414
Date of publication: 26 September 2017
46 ieee pulse ▼ september/october 2017
▼▼ Wearable sensors. These are allowing
health-condition monitoring to an
extent that has not been achievable
before. Related to wearable sensors
for humans are the many types of
remote sensors for environmental-
condition monitoring.
▼▼ Imaging. The panoply of imaging tech-
niques has been vastly expanded in
recent years, to such an extent that
the previously unseen can now be
viewed. There are imaging techniques
that range from viewing individual
molecules in vivo all the way to de-
termining the proper functioning of
organs and systems.
▼▼ Biomarkers. These are indirect indica-
tors of particular biological function
conditions, often used for defining
human disease states but also for en-
vironmental monitoring. Biomarkers
are more easily observed than direct
measures of the conditions they are
designed to monitor.
▼▼ Computational aids. Advances in hard-
ware and software improve the support
of all aspects of biobased engineering
and technology, including providing
the ability to analyze and draw rational
conclusions from big data.
▼▼ Biomaterials and biocompatible materials.
Steady progress in biomaterials discov-
ery and development is making im-
plants more reliable and successful.
▼▼ Synthetic biology. New or vastly modi-
fied organisms will be able to per-
form novel activities or produce new
or improved products.
▼▼ Epigenetics, gene expression, and gene repres-
sion. The mere presence of a gene is not
the final determinant of the appearance
of the characteristic it governs. Research
is ­showing the way toward treating,
eliminating, or ameliorating undesir-
able or dangerous genetic states.
▼▼ Functional genomics and proteomics. Ac-
tion pathways from genetic blueprints
to final macroscopic characteristics
are being defined, with the result that
better treatments for health condi-
tions are being ­developed.
▼▼ Artificial organs and xenographic organs.
Type 1 diabetes, in particular, is ram-
pant and in need of a treatment that
does not depend on insulin injections.
Improvements in artificial pancreases
and growing pancreatic cells in other
animals may soon make this condition
a minor disability.
▼▼ Microbiome and its functions. For every
human cell, there are ten single, for-
eign cells on and in the human body.
It is no wonder that these “nonhu-
man” cells, including bacteria and
other microscopic organisms, have an
effect on human health and behavior.
The extent of these influences is just
now being elucidated, and it turns out
that the influences are profound.
▼▼ Genetically modified crops. Producing
food and fiber in nonoptimal envi-
ronments and inserting genes to en-
gineer more nutritionous foods have
had far-reaching influences on agri-
culture and diets. There are, however,
many who object to the insertion of
genes from other species into plants
and animals eaten as food, so the use
of CRISPR gene editing, in which
genetic variants are taken from the
same species or single gene repression
is enacted, may soon overtake genetic
modification as the chief means to im-
prove agricultural production.
▼▼ Exobiology and new forms of life. We are
on the cusp of discovering whether
life from other worlds can exist based
on completely different foundation-
al forms. Extremophiles found on
Earth attest to the ability of life to
thrive in environments thought to be
too harsh to support it. We are in for
eye-opening discoveries that could
 have deep consequences regarding
what we are able to do with biologi-
cal forms.
▼▼ Derived stem cells. The technology to
form pluripotent stem cells from single
somatic cells is maturing, and it will
strongly influence how we approach
certain degenerative diseases, aging,
cloning, in vitro fertilization, and the
production of replacement organs.
▼▼ Geriatric amelioration. It is said that
the first person to reach a ripe old
age of 150 years has already been
born. If so, that person will benefit
from knowledge gained about the ag-
ing process and the means to slow it
down (or, perhaps, even reverse it).
The problem will be whether an ac-
ceptable quality of life can be main-
tained throughout the entire 150
years or so.
▼▼ Nutritional understanding. Discover-
ing that certain fats can be good for
you rather than bad is an indication
that we are learning more about
healthy diets than we thought we
knew before. Diets are one of the
determinants to a healthy life, along
with adequate sleep, a healthy mi-
robiome, satisfactory social inter-
actions, exercise, and, of course, a
strong genetic basis.
▼▼ Emergency medicine. We already knew
about the “golden hour,” that inter-
val defined by R. Adams Cowley as
the time during which blood pressure
needs to be stabilized to give a trauma
victim the best chance to survive. Im-
provements in emergency medicine,
made especially urgent by battlefield
and terrorist casualties, are vastly im-
proving the chances of victim survival
(even though the cost may involve
later dealing with disabilities).
▼▼ Surgical procedures. In utero surgery on
a fetus is now being performed, if not
routinely, then at least not extraor-
dinarily. Laproscopic surgical tech-
niques have reduced surgical traumas
and shortened recovery times. Imag-
ing and robotics have allowed more
precise and successful surgeries than
ever before. Look for these improve-
ments to continue.
48 ieee pulse ▼ september/october 2017
▼ ▼ Immunotherapy. Using the body’s
own defense against cancer and
other aberrant conditions has been
made possible through knowledge
about T-cell functioning, abnormal
cell surface markers, and cell cul-
ture in vitro. Immunotherapy may
prove to be the magic bullet for deal-
ing with cancerous growths, for ex-
ample. Immune systems in humans
and other organisms are highly re-
dundant but very effective. Learn-
ing about how immune processes
operate can be the ultimate cure for
many diseases.
▼▼ Biomimetics. Optimal solutions for
many problems encountered during
one’s lifetime have been developed
over many generations. These solu-
tions involve things besides disease
immunities, defenses against exter-
nal threats, and the functioning of
digestive mechanisms; they also in-
clude optimal solutions for social or-
ganization, transportation, and en-
vironmental responses. Studying the
way different organisms act has led
to improvements in Internet search
procedures, package delivery, and
transportation issues.
▼▼ Displays. Human-factors engineering
involves, among other things, better
communication between human op-
erators and the machines or control
panels they are monitoring. With
improved displays come safer cars
and airplanes, more secure manu-
facturing operations, and more effi-
cient production.
▼▼ Interspecies communication. Being able
to tell the exact physical and emo-
tional state of a member of another
species is important for the care of
pets, wild animals housed in zoo-
logical parks or otherwise confined,
and agricultural livestock. Many im-
provements in interspecies commu-
nication have resulted from human
interest in the ­ethical ­treatment of
animals. Some may even hope to see
plants treated s­ imilarly.
▼▼ Robotics. We cannot forget that robots
is becoming an important element in
medicine (the daVinci surgical robot
and robotic nurses, for example), for
companionship, to create lifelike
prosthetics, for automated driving,
and in the performance of menial
tasks. The wider use of robots can
have profound effects on daily living
and social interactions.
▼ ▼ Environmental understanding. New
knowledge is leading to improve-
ments in the breeding and preserva-
tion of rare species, interspecies be-
havioral and ecological interactions,
environmental sustainability, and
quality of life.
▼ ▼ Food processing. It is important to
stretch food supplies as far as pos-
sible if we are to feed the growing
human population. Up to 50% of the
world’s food production is lost due
to spoilage or waste. Processing can
help save wasted food and can also
make food more nutritious, as with
meat substitutes made from plant
products, which are more efficiently
produced than meat from animals.
These are just a few of the possible
topics to which biobased engineers can
contribute. We live in exciting times, and
there is little excuse for someone who
cannot find an area of interest in this list
(or any of the other possible topics not
itemized here). If one is not interested in
actually developing any of the technolo-
gies associated with those detailed here,
then there are still other opportunities:
in their applications to individuals, for
example, or explaining them to others,
underwriting any risks associated with
them, commercializing them, or dealing
with legal issues they may involve such
as ­patenting.
The future is bright, as long as these
technologies are handled correctly.
Perhaps most importantly, we need en-
gineers willing to apply reasonable eth-
ics and develop appropriate bounds for
each of these items. The future is up to
all of us.
Arthur T. Johnson (artjohns@umd.edu) is
professor emeritus in bioengineering, Univer-
sity of Maryland, College Park.