A Procedural Framework for Benchmarking Biofoundry Capabilities.

Benchmarking compares the performance of a product or service with a competitor. In a biofoundry context, capability benchmarking enables more effective use of development resources and furthering business development efforts. Biofoundries considering benchmarking activities are immediately faced with many implementation questions and decisions. While differing circumstances between biofoundries may lead to different answers to those same questions, a common framework for the benchmarking process is desirable. Perhaps the framework described here, and developed for the United States Department of Energy Agile BioFoundry, will be useful to other biofoundries around the world.

Reverse-engineering growth and form in Heidelberg.

The EMBO-EMBL Symposium 'Synthetic Morphogenesis: From Gene Circuits to Tissue Architecture' was held in Heidelberg, Germany, in March 2019, with 150 participants seeking to reverse-engineer embryogenesis, emphasizing quantitative simulation and the use of synthetic systems to test models. This highly dynamic, interdisciplinary mix of quantitative developmental genetics, bioengineering, synthetic biology and artificial life aimed to reveal how evolution exploits physical forces and genetics to implement the cell- and tissue-level decision-making required for complex morphogenesis.

HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT METHODS GUIDELINES FOR MEDICAL DEVICES: HOW CAN WE ADDRESS THE GAPS? THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF MEDICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING PERSPECTIVE.

OBJECTIVES: Current health technology assessment (HTA) methods guidelines for medical devices may benefit from contributions by biomedical and clinical engineers. Our study aims to: (i) review and identify gaps in the current HTA guidelines on medical devices, (ii) propose recommendations to optimize the impact of HTA for medical devices, and (iii) reach a consensus among biomedical engineers on these recommendations. METHODS: A gray literature search of HTA agency Web sites for assessment methods guidelines on devices was conducted. The International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineers (IFMBE) then convened a structured focus group, with experts from different fields, to identify potential gaps in the current HTA guidelines, and to develop recommendations to fill these perceived gaps. The thirty recommendations generated from the focus group were circulated in a Delphi survey to eighty-five biomedical and clinical engineers. RESULTS: Thirty-two panelists, from seventeen countries, participated in the Delphi survey. The responses showed a strong agreement on twenty-seven of thirty recommendations. Some uncertainties remain about the methods to accurately assess the effectiveness and safety, and interoperability of a medical device with other devices or within the clinical setting. CONCLUSIONS: As medical devices differ from drug therapies, current HTA methods may not accurately reflect the conclusions of their assessment. Recommendations informed by the focus group discussions and Delphi survey responses aimed to address the perceived gaps, and to provide a more integrated approach in medical device assessments in combining engineering with other perspectives, such as clinical, economic, patient, human factors, ethical, and environmental.

An Italian Education: IEEE Pulse talks with Riccardo Pietrabissa, president of Italy's National Bioengineering Group, about Italian progress and challenges in biomedical engineering education.

From Leonardo da Vinci's designs for ball bearings to the incredible engineering wizardry behind the Ferrari, the inventive, inquisitive, and ingenious spirit of the engineer has always lived--and thrived--in Italy. From education to research to product development, Italy has always been regarded as an engineering leader. But does this apply to biomedical engineering (BME)? Despite many successes, questions loom, as they do at engineering schools worldwide. Concerns such as whether BME programs are providing students with enough focused, practical, hands-on training remain at the forefront, as does the question of whether graduates will be able to find jobs in industry after university studies are over. Here, IEEE Pulse explores these topics with Riccardo Pietrabissa, president of the Gruppo Nazionale di Bioingegneria (National Bioengineering Group) and a full professor in the Department of Chemistry, Materials, and Chemical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano.

Harnessing our very life.

The Aristotelian ideas of nature (physis) and technology (techné) are taken as a starting point for understanding what it would mean for technology to be truly living. Heidegger's critique of the conflation of scientific and technological thinking in the current era is accepted as demonstrating that humanity does not have a deep enough appreciation of the nature of life to harness its essence safely. Could the vision of harnessing life be realized, which we strongly doubt, living technology would give selected humans transforming powers that could be expected to exacerbate, rather than solve, current global problems. The source of human purposefulness, and hence of both technology and ethics, is identified in nature's emergent capability to instantiate informational representations in material forms. Ethics that are properly grounded in an appreciation of intrinsic value, especially that of life, demand that proposals to give humanity the capabilities of living technology address the social, political, economic, and environmental problems inherent in its development and potential deployment. Before any development is embarked on, steps must be taken to avoid living technology, whatever the term eventually designates, becoming available for destructive or antisocial purposes such as those that might devastate humanity or irrevocably damage the natural world.

Proyectos Fisioma / Physione projects

Los proyectos fisioma están siendo desarrollados por diversa organizaciones y comunidades internacionales. Proponen innovadores enfoques investigativos, formas de organización y utilización de recursos para comprender integralmente, como sistemas, al ser humano y otros eucariotas, desde la concepción hasta la muerte, desde los genes hasta los organismos, a través de multiples escalas de espacio (rango: 10 elevado a 9 en la escala métrica), tiempo (rango: 3 x 10 elevado a 15 en segundos) y organización (moléculas, células, tejidos, organos, organismos). Se pone gran énfasis en el uso de modelos matemáticos/computacionales como herramientas para la integración del conocimiento, la experimentación virtual in sílico, el trabajo colaborativo de numerosos grupos multidisciplinarios internacionales, la creación de grandes bases de datos, ontologías, lenguajes estandarizados, metodologías, infraestructura, repositorios de instrumentos de trabajo; el entrenamiento de nuevos investigadores interdisciplinarios, el desarrollo de organizaciones y comunidades para obtener apoyo financiero, considerar aspectos éticos y legales, validar los modelos, facilitar la aplicación de resultados en la clínica, en la industria, en la enseñanza de los profesionales y en la educación del público, con el fin de maximizar los beneficios sociales. Presentamos el proyecto Fisioma de la Union Internacional de Ciencias Fisiológicas (UICF), y el "Humano Fisiológico Virtual", Eurofisioma, apoyado por la Union Europea. Mencionamos otros proyectos relacionados.

Physiome projects are being developed by several international organizations and communities. They propose innovative approaches to research, organization and resourse allocation aiming to fully understand, as systems, the human being and other eukaryotes, from conception to death, from genes to organisms, through multiple scales of space, time and organization (molecules, cells, tissues, organs, organisms). Great emphasis is placed in the of mathematical/computational modeling, in silico experimentation, international collaborative multidisciplinary work; the creation and share of large data bases, antologies standard languages, methodologies. infrastructures, tools; the training of new interdisciplinary investigators. New organizations are being developed to get funding, to consider ethical and legal aspects, to validate models, to facilitate the application of results from basic research to clinical practice, industry and education of professionals and the general public, in order to maximize social benefits. We will consider the Physiome Projects of the International Union Physiological Sciences (IUPS) and the Virtual Physiological Human (VPH), Europhysiome, supported by the European Union. Other related projects are mentioned.

A brief history of the Bioengineering Institute of California and the UC System-wide Symposia.

The plan to establish a Multicampus Research Unit (MRU) on Bioengineering in the University of California (UC) System started in August 1999. The cooperative efforts of the UC campuses led to the formal establishment of the Bioengineering Institute of California (BIC) in October 2003. Three years prior to the BIC establishment, the System-wide Annual Bioengineering Symposium was started at UC Davis. The Symposia were then hosted sequentially by UC Santa Barbara, UC Berkeley, UCSD, UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, UCSF, UCLA, and UC Riverside, with the completion of the first cycle of a decade in the newest campus of UC Merced in 2009. The second cycle began in 2010 with the Symposium returning again to UC Davis. Each campus hosted a wonderful Symposium, with the active participation of students and faculty from all campuses, with the motto of "Ten campuses united as one, learning and growing together." These Symposia have contributed significantly to the collaborative research and training of students and young scientists in bioengineering, as well as fruitful interactions with industry and government agencies, which have provided strong support for these valuable meetings. The BIC will endeavor to further enhance these efforts by fostering research collaborations and joint education and training activities, with the ultimate goal of advancing bioengineering for the improvement of human health and wellbeing.