Create Your Own Path
Biomedical Engineering is constantly evolving to stay at the forefront of innovation. Biomedical Engineering degrees at SBME are customizable to reflect the interdisciplinary and interconnected nature of engineering, medicine and healthcare. Beginning in third year, you can specialize your technical electives, giving you an excellent background for a career in the ever-changing areas of industry, healthcare or research.
Key Details
Your biomedical engineering degree is interdisciplinary, and your technical electives can reflect this based on what you choose. For example, you may want to take courses related to the five following areas:
• Biomechanics
• Cellular and Molecular Engineering
• Biomedical Informatics
• Biomaterials
• Signals and Systems
At the end of your degree, whichever direction you choose to go, you’re a Biomedical Engineer. Specializations are not listed on your transcript, but they will help guide you as you move forward into your career.
The undergraduate program is fully accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board of the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers. As such, technical electives must meet the minimum Accreditation Units (AU) assigned to each course. To see all technical electives and their AU’s, review the “Technical Electives” section below.
Core Courses
Year 2
Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
Technical Communication for Biomedical Engineers | 3 | |
Thermodynamics in Biomedical Engineering | 3 | |
Circuits and Electromagnetics with Application to Biomedical Engineering | 4 | |
Biomechanics I | 4 | |
The Fundamental Units of Life: From Cells to Systems | 4 | |
Cellular Physiology and Biophysics | 4 | |
Biomedical Engineering Design I | 4 | |
Principles of Software Construction OR Software Design for Engineers | 4 | |
Multivariable Calculus | 3 | |
Differential Equations | 3 | |
Vector Calculus for Electrical Engineering | 1 |
*CPEN 221 is recommended for those interested in Bioinformatics and/or Biomedical Systems & Signals.
**Delivered with BMEG 220
Year 3
Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
Introductory Medical Biochemistry | 3 | |
Introduction to Bioinformatics | 4 | |
Biomedical Instrumentation | 3 | |
Human Structure/Function from Cells to Systems | 4 | |
Biomedical Engineering Design II | 3 | |
Transport Phenomena within Cells and Tissues | 3 | |
Organic Chemistry for the Biological Sciences | 3 | |
Organic Chemistry Laboratory | 1 | |
Elementary Statistics | 3 | |
Technical Electives | 6 | |
Complementary Studies Electives | 3 |
Year 4
Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
Economics of Health Care Solutions | 3 | |
Professionalism and Ethics in Biomedical Engineering | 3 | |
6 | ||
Intermediate Statistics for Applications | 3 | |
Technical Electives | 15 | |
Complementary Studies Electives | 6 |
SELECTING YOUR ELECTIVES
The Biomedical Engineering program offered by the UBC SBME is accredited following guidelines from the Accreditation Board of Engineers Canada (ABEC).
According to these guidelines, our program must meet a minimum of Engineering Science and Engineering Design content, quantified for each course as a single number called the Accreditation Unit (AU).
For your Technical Electives, you must choose at least 21 credits from the course list below:
• Totaling no fewer than 180 AUs.
• A maximum of 8 credits of 100 or 200 level courses.
• A minimum of 9 credits of 400 level courses.
Registration Considerations:
• For students considering Graduate school, additional 400 level courses may be necessary.
• Not all courses will be available each year and the BMEG program cannot guarantee seats in non-BMEG courses. Seats are available in BMEG courses, though they can have pre-requisites or limitations depending on the course. As a result, in order to keep progressing in their program, students may need to adjust their plans to take what is available and fits within their schedule, as course conflicts do occur.
• The AUs are designed to capture engineering content, which varies with the topic, and is not a representation of the relevance or usefulness of the course material to your education and career. The AUs listed with each course on this page may increase from year to year, as new accreditation data is collected. In the unlikely event that AUs for a course decrease, Student Services will let students know. This page will be updated every spring.
Selecting Your Electives
Code | Course Name | Credits | Accreditation Units |
|---|---|---|---|
Engineering Materials | 3 | 36.6 | |
Engineering Materials Laboratory | 1 | 6.1 | |
New Venture Design | 6 | 72 | |
Bioengineering Feedback Systems and Control | 3 | 42.7 | |
Biomechanics II | 3 | 42.7 | |
Biomedical Materials and Drug Delivery | 3 | 42.7 | |
Microfluids | 3 | 36.6 | |
Cellular Bioengineering Lab | 3 | 18.3 | |
Immunoengineering | 3 | 36.6 | |
Microfluidics | 3 | 27.45 | |
Linear Optical Systems | 3 | 36.6 | |
Modern Biomedical Optical Imaging | 3 | 36.6 | |
Clinical Informatics | 3 | 36.6 | |
Genome Informatics | 3 | 36.6 | |
Bioionics and Robotics | 3 | 36.6 | |
Synthetic Biology Bootcamp | 3 | 40 | |
Medical Imaging | 3 | 36.6 | |
Cellular Responses to Forces and Biomaterials | 3 | 18.3 | |
Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine | 3 | 36.6 | |
Introduction to Academic Research | 3/6 | 39.9/79.8 | |
Transport Phenomena I | 3 | 14.64 | |
Biological Engineering and Bio-Manufacturing I | 3 | 29.89 | |
Bioprocess Engineering II | 4 | 32.025 | |
Digital Systems and Microcomputers | 3 | 42.7 | |
Software Engineering | 4 | 48.8 | |
Software Project Management | 4 | 32.208 | |
Human Computer Interfaces in Engineering Design | 4 | 48.8 | |
Models of Computation | 4 | 36.6 | |
Basic Algorithms and Data Structures | 4 | 36.6 | |
Numerical Computation for Algebraic Problems | 3 | 18.3 | |
Numerical Approximation and Discretization | 3 | 18.3 | |
Introduction to relational databases | 3 | 42.7 | |
Intermediate Algorithm Design and Analysis | 3 | 42.7 | |
Introduction to Artificial intelligence | 3 | 27.45 | |
Applied Machine Learning | 3 | 32.025 | |
Machine Learning and Data Mining | 3 | 32.025 | |
Introduction to Human Computer Interaction Methods | 3 | 48.8 | |
Computer Vision | 3 | 27.45 | |
Algorithms in Bioinformatics | 3 | 18.3 | |
Signals and Systems | 4 | 48.8 | |
Computer Communications | 4 | 48.8 | |
Digital Systems and Image Processing | 3 | 27.45 | |
Biosignals and Systems | 3 | 36.6 | |
Introduction to Robotics | 3 | 36.6 | |
Sensors and Actuators in Microsystems | 3 | 36.6 | |
Micro/Nanofabrication and Instrumentation Laboratory | 3 | 42.7 | |
Microsystems Design | 3 | 36.6 | |
Biological Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems | 3 | 36.6 | |
Introduction to Mechanics of Materials | 3 | 42.7 | |
Solid Mechanics | 3 | 42.7 | |
Fluid Dynamics | 3 | 32.025 | |
Engineering Dynamics | 3 | 27.45 | |
Biofluids | 3 | 42.7 | |
Fundamentals of Injury Biomechanics | 3 | 32.025 | |
Finite Element Analysis | 3 | 33.55 | |
Mechanical Vibrations | 4 | 48.8 | |
Industrial Robotics | 3 | 25.62 | |
Dynamic Systems Models | 3 | 36.6 | |
Biomaterials | 3 | 26.352 | |
General Biochemistry | 3 | 0 | |
Advanced Cellular & Molecular Physiology | 3 | 0 | |
Introduction to Chemical Analysis | 4 | 0 | |
Mathematical Proof | 3 | 0 | |
MICB 202 | Introductory Medical Microbiology and Immunology | 3 | 0 |
Introductory Immunology and Virology | 3 | 0 | |
Immunology | 3 | 0 | |
Molcular Virology | 3 | 0 | |
Introduction to Biophysics | 3 | 23.79 | |
Methods for Statistical Learning | 3 | 0 |
Examples of Specialization Course Combinations
Biomaterials
Code | Course Names | Credits | AU* |
|---|---|---|---|
Engineering Materials | 3 | 36.3 | |
Biomedical Materials and Drug Delivery | 3 | 42.7 | |
Microfluids | 3 | 36.6 | |
Cellular Responses to Forces and Biomaterials | 3 | 18.3 | |
Biomaterials | 3 | 26.352 | |
Experimental Microfluidics | 3 | 27.45 | |
Micro/Nano-fabrication and Instrumentation Laboratory | 3 | 42.7 |
*Accreditation Units
Biomechanics
Code | Course Name | Credits | AU* |
|---|---|---|---|
Biomechanics II | 3 | 42.7 | |
Transport Phenomena I | 3 | 14.64 | |
Introduction to Mechanics of Materials | 3 | 42.7 | |
Solid Mechanics | 3 | 42.7 | |
Engineering Dynamics | 3 | 27.45 | |
Biofluids | 3 | 42.7 | |
Fundamentals of Injury Biomechanics | 3 | 42.7 |
*Accreditation Units
Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering
Code | Course Name | Credits | AU* |
|---|---|---|---|
Cellular Bioengineering Lab | 3 | 18.3 | |
Immunoengineering | 3 | 36.6 | |
Cellular Responses to Forces and Biomaterials | 3 | 18.3 | |
Biological Engineering and Biomanufacturing II | 4 | 32.025 | |
Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine | 3 | 36.6 | |
Microfluidics | 3 | 36.6 | |
Biological Engineering and Biomanufacturing I | 3 | 29.89 |
*Accreditation Units
**This course is held in the Summer term, & has limited availability. Plan ahead if considering this course.
BMEG 400H and BMEG 490A/B are alternatives which could be used in this course combination; however, please note these courses have limited availability.
Biomedical Informatics
Code | Course Name | Credits | AU* |
|---|---|---|---|
Genome Informatics | 3 | 36.6 | |
Models of Computation | 4 | 36.6 | |
Basic Algorithms and Data Structures | 4 | 36.6 | |
Intermediate Algorithm Design and Analysis | 3 | 42.7 | |
Computer Vision | 3 | 27.45 | |
Clinical Informatics | 3 | 36.6 | |
Biosignals and Systems | 3 | 36.6 |
*Accreditation Units
Signals and Systems
Code | Course Name | Credits | Accreditation Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
Medical Imaging | 3 | 36.6 | |
Bioionics and Robotics | 3 | 36.6 | |
Applied Machine Learning | 3 | 32.025 | |
Signals and Systems | 4 | 48.8 | |
Digital Systems and Image Processing | 4 | 27.45 | |
Sensors and Actuators in Microsystems | 3 | 36.3 | |
Micro / Nano-fabrication and Instrumentation Laboratory | 3 | 42.7 |
*Accreditation Units