Course abstract

During the last several decades, micro-system research mainly addressed electromechanical systems and in recent years, the focus has shifted to Bio-Microelectromechanical Systems (BioMEMS). This shift is driven primarily by the potential applications of the micro-systems to chemistry, biology and medicine. In fact, a combination of BioMEMS and microsystems has made possible the realization of physical systems at scales and dimensions similar to biological entities such as bacterial and mammalian cells, viruses, spores, etc., and this has resulted in the development of a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic applications, intelligent biochips and sensors. BioMEMS today finds many applications within the chemical, health-care, biotechnological and manufacturing industries and this has necessitated a considerable shift in the focus of engineering education. This course illustrates a post graduate level introductory course in BioMEMS and micro-systems.