• BME 3520 “Developing Mobile App for Healthcare”, offered every fall semester 
Mobile apps for smartphones and tablets are changing the way doctors and patients approach health care. Many are designed for the doctors themselves, ranging from handy databases about drugs and diseases to sophisticated monitors that read a person’s blood pressure, glucose levels or asthma symptoms. Others are for the patients to gather diagnostic data, for example, or simply to help coordinate care, giving patients an easy way to keep track of their conditions and treatments. In this course, we will learn the basic elements of apps development on Android platforms, including XML, Java, UI and etc. We will learn about how to handle patient data in the cloud using HIPAA-Compliant web service. We will discuss the basics of deep learning and how to incorporate deep learning in the app development. In particular, we will use Tensorflow platform for machine-learning-related app development. No previous programming experience is needed. The final project will be chosen from UConn School of Nursing, Engineering World Health, and other sources: pain management app, skin disease automatic diagnosis app, HPV prevention app, and hearing-loss diagnosis app. This course is recommended for junior and senior students who want to develop healthcare-related apps for their senior design. The evaluation will be based on homework assignments and the final project. A good laptop is needed in the class.

 

• BME 3740 “Introduction to Microscopy and Biophotonics” offered every spring semester 
In this course, we will discuss the basic principle of modern light microscopy and related biophotonics techniques. We will model various imaging platforms from the system perspective and use real data from experiments for demonstrations. Topics in this course includes geometrical optics; image processing in spatial and Fourier domain; lensless microscopy imaging; light scattering and absorption in tissue; wave propagation; coherent and incoherent imaging; lens-based imaging systems; optical aberrations; phase retrieval; brightfield, darkfield, phase-contrast, and confocal microscopy; holographic imaging; light field microscopy; 3D tomographic imaging; autofocusing for whole slide imaging; two-photon imaging; structured illumination and other super-resolution techniques; Fourier ptychographic imaging; detectors and photon transfer curve; image denoising via regularization; optical coherent tomography. The final project is to analyze an imaging system or a biophotonics technique.

 

• BME 4900/4910 “Biomedical Engineering Design I and II” offered every fall and spring semester (team-based project)

BME4900 (Design I) and BME 4910 (Design II) is a two-semester course sequence that provides an opportunity for practical and innovative problem-solving in creating a product to meet a real need for a customer/client. These courses are intended to engage students in a meaningful experience by bringing together concepts and principles learned in the biomedical engineering curriculum, extending this theory to practical application, to plan and construct a project. Course emphasis is placed on learning the design process within the framework of an engineering team. Particular focus in the design experience is placed on the creation of a “commercial product.” This experience is comprehensive, reflecting all aspects of the engineering design process, and industry practice. Problem-solving for large-scale, open-ended, complex and sometimes incompletely defined systems is the primary emphasis of these courses. Students use the World Wide Web (WEB) to describe and report progress on their project. Students also learn what it is like to work in industry and learn the tricks of the trade. Some students emerge from the experience with a patented device, system or process. Many of our students elect to get valuable work experience by working on a design project with local companies. Other students are involved in constructing devices to aid persons with disabilities. Some past projects include: digital hearing aids, assistive learning devices, environmental control systems, motorizing manual wheel chairs with state-of-the-art microcontrollers, accessible and communication devices for the hearing impaired.