Master's specialisation Bioengineering Technologies of Biomedical Engineering

Learn to use living tissues and cells in the development of technologies that can mimic or restore the function of diseased organs or damaged tissues.

How can you develop a heart-on-a-chip that can mimic an actual human heart, paving the way for more effective drug development and (animal-free) testing? What role can nanoparticles with specific properties play in targeting tumour cells? And what about regenerating cartilage for arthritis patients with injectable hydrogels? The specialisation in Bioengineering Technologies focuses on the development of technologies that mimic or restore the function of diseased organs and damaged tissues, such as the heart, the kidney, cartilage and/or blood vessels.

What is Bioengineering Technologies?

This specialisation is centred on the development and improvement of technologies such as organs-on-chips or tumours-on-chips, implants based on biomaterials and living tissue and targeted (nano)medicine, and moreover, analysing and testing these technologies to see whether they’re fit for purpose. These technologies can serve to directly promote the recovery or restoration of human cells, tissues or organs, but they can also be used indirectly for innovative medicine development. You will dive deeper into subjects such as applied (stem) cell biology, biomaterials engineering, molecular biology, biomedical science, and tissue engineering.

Examples of courses you will follow during this specialisation:

During the course Tissue Engineering, you will engineer liver, skeletal or heart tissue, using a 3D-printed designer construct.
The course Biomedical Membranes & Artificial Organs teaches you how to translate clinical needs in bio-artificial kidneys into design criteria for synthetic membranes.
Knowledge of cell signalling is essential when it comes to controlling cell behaviour. The course Applied Cell Biology teaches you to design and carry out hands-on experiments on signal transduction in cells, using knowledge from literature and computer models.

Thanks to the close ties with the MedTech industry (including UT’s innovative TechMed Centre) and many of your professors working partially in the clinical field, you will be sure to gain hands-on experience and work on real-life, relevant challenges. You might develop a heart-on-a-chip out of stem cells to model the cardiac side effects of novel cancer medicine, or you could focus on developing bioactive materials that can be integrated into the human body, in order to heal tissues and organs that are damaged (due to age, disease or trauma, for example). And what about contributing to the development of a wearable artificial kidney, enabling patients to undergo dialysis anytime and anywhere? There’s a great variety of challenges you might learn to solve!

What will you learn?

As a graduate of this Master's and this specialisation, you have acquired specific, scientific knowledge, skills and values, which you can put to good use in your future job.

Knowledge
After completing this Master’s specialisation, you:
- will have an advanced understanding of how molecular and cellular processes drive the shape and function of human tissues;
- understand and know how to combine concepts of chemistry, physics, and biology to control and engineer human tissues;
- will know how to apply tissue engineering and molecular cell biology to address challenges from clinical and biomedical science.
Skills
After successfully finishing this Master’s specialisation, you:
- can independently design and carry out experiments in the domain of cell biology and tissue engineering;
- are able to critically assess academic literature on cell biology, tissue engineering and biomedical science;
- are able to organise your work in the context of a project team, and to present your work orally and in writing at a high academic level.
Values
After completing this Master’s specialisation, you:
- understand the societal context of your work, in particular the needs of patients, clinicians and other end-users;
- always take into account the medical ethical context of work in bioengineering technologies, including the aspects of personal data;
- value the dynamics of research in bioengineering technologies, taking into account the perspective of all stakeholders.

Other master’s and specialisations

Is this specialisation not exactly what you’re looking for? Maybe one of the other specialisations suits you better. Or find out more about related Master’s:

Curriculum