<p>What is the difference between bioengineering and biomedical engineering? For the most part, are they the same? USC doesn't offer bioengineering only biomedical engineering while UCLA only has bioengineering and Berkeley offers both...</p>
<p>What is the difference?</p>
<p>For the record, UCLA offers both Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering degrees, where Biomedical Engineering is one of the three specializations of Electrical Engineering that you must declare once you have junior standing as an EE major. I've also asked your question on the MyUCLA Academic forums a few weeks ago, and here's the answers I got:</p>
<p>*I've wondered about that myself. I think biomedical engineering is more like an offshoot of electrical engineering geared toward interfacing between biological systems and technology for the purposes of creating things like prostheses. Bioengineering is more about understanding biological systems in engineering terms, for messing with biological systems at a more fundamental level. At least, I think that's the difference. In any case there's obviously gonna be a lot of overlap between the two, and it might be a bit redundant to have them in separate departments. *</p>
<p>*At least for Bioengineering at UCLA, it is more like cellular, molecular engineeering. More specifically, it is engineer biology to make something. Traditional biomedical engineering has been like making some thing to work in a biological system, i.e a artificial heart, leg, etc.. Bioengineering would be more like using biomembrane to make sensors, etc. This is to the best of my knowledge *</p>
<p>Also, here is the official description from the HSSEAS Bioengineering website:
<a href="http://www.bioeng.ucla.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.bioeng.ucla.edu/</a></p>
<p>UCLA | Department of Bioengineering</p>
<p>At the interface of medical sciences, basic sciences, and engineering, bioengineering has emerged internationally as an established engineering discipline. As these disciplines converge in the 21st century, bioengineers will solve problems in biology and medicine by applying principles of physical sciences and engineering and applying biological principles to create new engineering paradigms, such as biomimetic materials, DNA computing, and neural networking. The genomic and proteomic revolution will drive a new era in bioengineering industry, and future bioengineers must combine proficiency in traditional engineering, basic sciences, and molecular sciences to function as effective leaders of multidisciplinary teams.</p>
<p>UCLA has a long history of fostering interdisciplinary training and is a superb environment for bioengineers. UCLA boasts the top hospital in the western U.S., nationally ranked medical and engineering schools, and numerous nationally recognized programs in basic sciences. Bioengineers are needed in research institutions, academia, and industry. Their careers may follow their bioengineering concentration (e.g., tissue engineering, bioMEMS, bioinformatics, image and signal processing, neuroengineering, cellular engineering, molecular engineering, biomechanics, nanofabrication, bioacoustics, biomaterials, etc.), but the ability of bioengineers to cut across traditional field boundaries will facilitate their innovation in new areas. For example, a bioengineer with an emphasis in tissue engineering may begin a career by leading a team to tissue engineer an anterior cruciate ligament for a large orthopedic company and later join a research institute to investigate the effects of zero gravity on mechanical signal transduction pathways of bone cells. Someone with an emphasis in bioinformatics may begin a career by data mining the human proteome at NIH before advancing to academia to develop data structure for DNA computing.</p>
<p>Bioengineers are also who also go into stem cell research.</p>
<p>Cut paste time:</p>
<p>There is no difference. In the past, some programs used the term "Biomedical Engineering" to emphasize applications in medicine and health care, whereas other programs used the term "Bioengineering" to emphasize non-medical applications, such as artificial intelligence or agricultural engineering. We decided to use the term "Bioengineering" because we did not want prospective students to think that their only option after graduation was a career in medicine.</p>