Biomedical Engineering in the 21^st Century and in the Future

Abstract

Biomedical engineering, in the context of the evolution and understanding of medicine, experienced its fastest growth at the turn of the millennium and can be expected to continue to grow in the 21st Century. This talk describes the current and historical aspects of the evolution of biomedical engineering and outlines the present and future of instrumentation and medical engineering in the future.In particular, the lecture discusses the possibilities of spatial imaging in medicine, miniaturization in digestive tract diagnostics and the improvement of whole-body diagnostics. A new area in imaging is technology using THz diagnostics with respect to material analysis and composition of substances as well. The advances and perspectives of laparoscopic and robotic assisted surgery with the possibility of collagen adhesives instead of conventional suturing techniques in surgery are presented. One of the breakthrough areas is the non-invasive imaging of the vascular system in the subcutaneous tissue, which is essential in pediatric, cancer patients with Vein Viewer technology. Although immortality may seem like a nonsensical approach from a biomedical perspective, it has long been laid on a scientific foundation and may be one of the options for saving humanity in the colonization of space, with the new science of cryonics. Could nanotechnology also be a way to self-monitor and improve the quality of life, as outlined by Richard Feynman back in 1959? Quite possibly so, and we will show how. Nevertheless, the human aspect and joint cooperation in the development and application of new technologies is very important and should be above all!