Sub disciplines within biomedical engineering

Biomedical engineering is a highly interdisciplinary field, influenced by (and overlapping with) various other engineering and medical fields. This often happens with newer disciplines, as they gradually emerge in their own right after evolving from special applications of extant disciplines. Due to this diversity, it is typical for a biomedical engineer to focus on a particular subfield or group of related subfields. There are many different taxonomic breakdowns within BME, as well as varying views about how best to organize them and manage any internal overlap; the main U.S. organization devoted to BME divides the major specialty areas as follows

• Biomechatronics
• Bioinstrumentation
• Biomaterials
• Biomechanics
• Bionics
• Cellular, Tissue, and Genetic Engineering
• Clinical Engineering
• Medical Imaging
• Orthopaedic Bioengineering
• Rehabilitation engineering
• Systems Physiology
• Bionanotechnology
• Neural Engineering

Sometimes, disciplines within BME are classified by their association(s) with other, more established engineering fields, which can include:

• Chemical engineering - often associated with biochemical, cellular, molecular and tissue engineering, biomaterials, and biotransport.
• Electrical engineering - often associated with bioelectrical and neural engineering, bioinstrumentation, biomedical imaging, and medical devices. This also tends to encompass Optics and Optical engineering - biomedical optics, imaging and related medical devices.
• Mechanical engineering - often associated with biomechanics, biotransport, medical devices, and modeling of biological systems, like soft tissue mechanics.