Use your in-depth knowledge of mechanical engineering principles to tackle healthcare challenges and improve the treatment of patients.
Mechanical engineering is an important aspect in the healthcare sector when it comes to medical device design and development. Exoskeletons, special wheelchairs, surgical instruments, and even entire artificial hearts or lungs are all devices that could not be manufactured without the application of mechanical principles. So how can you apply fluid mechanics to the blood flow in artificial heart valves? What does it take to translate the mechanics of human movement into the design of an exoskeleton? And how do the principles of mass transfer apply to an artificial lung? If you want to build expertise in the domain of healthcare technology as a mechanical engineer, the specialisation in Personalised Health Technology is right for you.
What is Personalised Health Technology?
If you think about it: the human body is made up of all kinds of systems that work with underlying mechanical principles. And real-life mechanical behaviour can be very complex since it is highly non-linear, time-dependent and non-isotropic. So how can you use your understanding of mechanical engineering to design solutions in the medical device industry? In this specialisation, you will gain a broad foundation, integrating knowledge about product design, materials, and production technology as well as in-depth insights into mechanical engineering fundamentals like heat and mass transfer, fluid dynamics and control. You will then use this knowledge to analyse, simulate and support aspects of human functioning. From studying the mechanical properties of living biological tissue to flow problems related to the heart and lungs to the dynamics and coordination of the human movement system: you will be able to use your mechanical background to contribute to solutions for important healthcare challenges.
One of the great benefits of this specialisation is the opportunity to expand your knowledge in other vital disciplines as well, since you will work together in interdisciplinary teams with biomedical and electrical engineers, physicists and technical physicians, with access to UT’s innovative TechMed Centre. You might design an ambulation device for artificial lung patients in order to increase the outcome of a future lung transplant or analyse the failure mechanisms in hip implants. Or what about modelling and predicting how muscle forces operate when humans walk or improving the usability of medical instruments that are predominantly designed for male practitioners? And also: what does it take to get clinical certification and approval? Because in a highly regulated field like the medical device industry, there are high standards when it comes to safety, not only regarding the device, but also the manufacturing procedure and other processes involved.
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.
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 these other master's:
- Master’s in Biomedical Engineering (specialisation in Medical Device Design)
- Master’s in Industrial Design Engineering (specialisation in Emerging Technology Design or Management of Product Development)