These areas of research, part of the Convergence Revolution, have the greatest potential to make a tremendous impact on the field of medicine in the coming decades or century.
Jianyi "Jay" Zhang, M.D., Ph.D.,Imagine this, creating:
- An artificially intelligent machine that acts as a human exocortex, a system that will interact with an old brain and make it function normally.
- Human cells that can detect metastatic cancer or the boundaries of solid tumors and respond with tumor cell destruction, release of inflammatory payloads, or bioluminescence to help guide surgical removal.
- Manufactured vaccines that prevent or prevent cancer, block the action of opioids or reverse autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
These are some of the powerful ideas presented by 50 international biomedical engineering experts in a new white paper, "Grand Challenges at the Interface of Engineering and Medicine," published in the IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology.
Jianyi โJayโ Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., president of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and leader in cardiac tissue engineering in the University of Alabama at Birminghamis one of the co-authors who dedicated a two-day workshop and months of in-depth discussions to identify five grand challenges as the areas of research with the greatest potential to make a tremendous impact on the field of medicine in the coming decades or century. .
The great challenges presented in the study are:
- A new discipline called "Accumedicine", by creating avatars of cells, tissues, organs and entire human beings. They can be knitting avatars or digital computer avatars.
- Development of intelligent and responsive devices for the augmentation of human functions.
- Exocortical technologies to understand brain function and treat neuropathologies.
- Developing approaches to harness the human immune system for health and well-being.
- New strategies to design genomes and cells.
As the authors write: โThe 21st century is witnessing a paradigm shift in human health and medicine. The engineering of completely unforeseen devices, sensors and technologies has led to a deeper understanding of human physiology and pathophysiology. โWe are in an unprecedented position to translate knowledge from countless multiscale measurements into actionable results, and the Grand Challenges outlined here provide a roadmap for this future.โ
"This Grand Challenge paper is an example of both the 'Convergence Revolution' in biology and the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution,'" said Zhang, who helped write and revise the manuscript.
The Convergence Revolution, as described in a 2011 Massachusetts Institute of Technology white paper, is where the โtools, methods, concepts, and processes of chemistry, physics, engineering, computer science, materials science, and engineering are increasingly used in biological research, and conversely, scientists' understanding of complex evolutionary systems is influencing physical science and engineering.
These areas of research, part of the Convergence Revolution, have the greatest potential to make a tremendous impact on the field of medicine in the coming decades or century.The Convergence Revolution is the third revolution in biology since the mid-20th century, an MIT timeline reports. The first revolution was molecular and cellular biology, beginning with the description of the structure of DNA in 1953 by Watson and Crick. The second revolution was genomics, the push to study the entire genome of an organism, including DNA sequencing of the entire human genome. The third revolution evolved in the first decade of the 21st century when academia began to explore Convergence, including the National Academy of Sciences' 2009 report, โA New Biology for the 21st Century.โ
"The Grand Challenges document presents high-level perspectives from the leaders of the Convergence Revolution and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which have impacted and will continue to impact all perspectives of society and life," Zhang said. โI believe, and I very much hope, that new, younger, stronger leaders will emerge naturally as these revolutions continue.โ
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, as described Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, is โa fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres.โ
Schwab says the First Industrial Revolution, which began in 1784, used water and steam power to mechanize production. The Second, starting in 1870, used electrical energy to create mass production. The Third, beginning in 1969, used electronics and information technology to automate production.
In particular, the Fourth's cyber-physical systems are distinct from those of the Third in speed, scope, and impact on the systems, Schwab says. "The speed of current advances is without historical precedent," Schwab wrote. โCompared to previous industrial revolutions, the Fourth is evolving at an exponential rather than a linear pace. Furthermore, it is disrupting almost every industry in every country.โ
That includes biomedical research, Zhang says. โUAB, as evidenced by the establishment of the new joint Department of Biomedical Engineering in 2015 under the UAB mandate Ingeniery school and the Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine โ will continue to grow strongly as a committed leader and contributor to the Convergence Revolution and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.โ
In the Grand Challenges article in the IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology, each challenge is framed by five themes to explain current needs and existing gaps that will help guide future work. The topics are social needs, challenges, enabling technologies, multidisciplinary teams and core competencies.
Each of the five Grand Challenges, the authors say, will require interdisciplinary collaborations across disciplines based in the life sciences and engineering, as well as next-generation training of physicians and clinicians in technologically and quantitatively driven sciences.
The study's corresponding authors are Shankar Subramaniam, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego; Paolo Bonato, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; and Michael Miller, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Whiting School of Engineering, Baltimore, Maryland.
The IEEE is a community of more than 450,000 technology and engineering professionals and a trusted international voice for engineering, computing, and technology. Funding for the study came from the IEEE Society for Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Johns Hopkins University and UC San Diego.
At UAB, Zhang holds the T. Michael and Gillian Goodrich Chair in Engineering Leadership.
