Q: Professor, why is it worth choosing biomedical engineering if one thinks about pursuing a career in research?

A: Biomedical engineering is gaining momentum. This is proven, among others, by the establishment of EAMBES, or the European Alliance for Medical and Biological Engineering and Science, which brings together various organisations operating in this wide research field and is supposed to support engineering and research at European and national levels. Definitely, there is a trend these days to pool forces in this discipline so as to achieve results comparable with those achieved by Americans. At present, the implementation of research findings - or the transfer of knowledge to business - is much faster in the United States. But we should remember that biomedical engineering involves as many as 26 research areas, including bioinformatics, biomechanics, biomaterials, biomeasurement, biochemical engineering, artificial organs, tissue engineering, and modelling of physiological and biological systems. Biomedical engineering students receive comprehensive and interdisciplinary education. Supplemented with knowledge about the latest achievements in biomedical engineering, it allows the graduates to easily adjust to market requirements in any country. They can work as medical engineers, in scientific research institutes and in the hi-tech sector. Health care is the most frequent priority of all contests for scientific research.

Q: What is the role of the Institute today? As you have said, biomedical engineering and biocybernetics are the research fields which attract much attention these days and their importance is well appreciated. But the Institute has operated for over 30 years now.

Q: The Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences was set up in 1975. In 1975-1990 the Institute coordinated the national programme of biomedical engineering research. Its head was Prof. Maciej Nałęcz, who died a few months ago. In this period the Institute took part in 136 projects carried out by 1,000 scientists and engineers from 60 Polish research institutions. Prof. Nałęcz had this vision: he knew that this research discipline will be growing in importance. At present, the Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering is the largest Polish centre conducting research in the following fields: biomeasurement; artificial organs aiding metabolism; mathematical and physical analysis and modelling of physiological systems and processes; computer image processing and speech synthesis; and computer systems in biology and medicine. The Institute employs 150 workers and conducts broad-scale publishing activity, stressing the importance of biomedical engineering development in Poland. Interestingly, for years it was only our Institute and a large number of small research teams at universities that dealt with biomedical engineering in Poland. Then, Prof. Religa founded the Foundation of Cardiac Surgery Development. Recently, it all picked up. The Ministry of Science and Higher Education introduced biomedical engineering as a new program of study at eight universities. It is a very significant fact. There are now around 1,700 people, including 190 professors, dealing with biomedical engineering in Poland. Young researchers may also appear soon because now we have the foundation: there are research centres and a climate conducive to the development of this research field in Poland.

Q: What is the level of scientific research in this discipline?

A: In such fields as biomaterials, biomechanics, bioinformatics, biomedical imaging and artificial organs, we have great achievements to our credit and are well known in the world. But cooperation with business and industry is still a problem. The reason is that investments in biomedical projects do not offer fast returns. A person starting up a business would like the investment to pay back within two years. Meanwhile, investments in biomedical engineering are long-term in nature, although very needed. One should remember that the technologies already available offer a huge potential to support treatment. One example is telemedicine. A patient provided with a telematic system may stay at home and feel confident that their life and health is quite safe. The person’s medical data are sent automatically to their doctor. In the case of intensive diabetes treatment for instance, the system registers insulin doses, glucose levels, meals, the patient’s physical effort and stress. The glucose meter sends data stored automatically in its memory during the day to a medical centre where the data is automatically entered into a registration program. The transmission is by phone or Internet.

At the Institute, we work on developing new technologies of this kind. Another important research topic is tissue regeneration. Our research goes in two directions: replacing or supporting body functions by means of artificial organs or tissue regeneration. We conduct very interesting research into supporting the functions of the liver, lungs and circulatory system, and replacing the lost functions of the kidneys and pancreas. We also deal with functional brain tests.

Q: What institutions do you work with?
A: By definition we are very close to medicine. Our largest partner is the Medical University of Warsaw. We also cooperate successfully with the Military Institute of Aviation Medicine and leading Polish hospitals. We are a member of the Biocentrum Ochota consortium together with the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Mossakowski Medical Research Centre, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Institute of Fundamental Technological Research and International Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology UNESCO.