Biomedical Engineering

The research program of the Department is centred on applied research in the core areas of Biomedical, Communication, Control Systems, Digital Signal Processing, Optical and Photonics, Semiconductor Materials and Device Research.

Opportunities exist for suitably qualified graduates to pursue further studies.

Advances in medicine in recent years have been assisted by new technology. Biomedical engineering specialists are at the forefront of the rapidly expanding high technology provision of heatlh care services.

 

Undergraduate Course

Areas of study include biomedical instrumentation and signal processing, hospital safety, computerised medical imaging, artifical organs and life support systems, as well as many other aspects of technology as applied to medicine.

Research

The research interests of the Department currently fall within the following broad areas: Medical image processing, particularly digital aniography and cardiovascular ultrasound. Doppler velocimetry of blood flow. Three dimensional reconstruction from diagnostic images. Modelling techniques for determining changes in vascular mechanical properties and their relation to disease processes. Physiological control systems, bioinstrumentation, patient data management systems. Autonomic nervous system dysfunction.

The staff members whose research interests lie in this area are;

A/Prof Jim Cameron, Associate Professor
BE(Elec) Melb , MEngSc MB BS Melb , MD Monash , FIE Aust , CPEng(Biomed)

Cardiovascular mechanics and the relationship of arterial mechanical properties, especially non-invasive assessment of large artery wall stiffness, to ongoing disease. Intergrated echocardiographic analysis stations including techniques for the real time presentation and analysis of intravascular ultrasound images. The potential for "novel" coronary risk factors as discriminators of propensity for the development of cardiovascular diesease.

Mr Graeme Rathbone, Senior Lecturer
ARMIT DipED SCVH MEngSc Melb , MIE Aust , CPEng(Biomed).

Neuro-Engineering, electrode-neuron interface technology, direct auditory brainstem implant stimulation strategies, deep brain implant strategies for the control of epilepsy, physiological control systems and modelling.

Mr Paul Junor, Senior Lecturer
DipEng BEng GradDipEng R.M.I.T. , GradDipAppSc Swinburne , SMIEAust, CPEng(Biomed), MIEEE, MIREE.

Biomedical instrumentation and biomedical signal processing. Microwave and ultrasound hyperthermia cancer therapy. Magnetic resonance signal processing. Anaesthesia and respiratory monitoring. Sensors for biomedical and industrial applications.

Prof Richard Kirsner, Adjunct Professor
BE MSc PHD Melb , CPEng, FIE Aust , FIEE, FACPSM.

 

The Master of Engineering takes nominally two years full-time (or part-time equivalent). The normal period of candidature for a PhD is three to four years full-time.

Scholarships may be available to well-qualified applicants. For more information on scholarships available at La Trobe University click here . For further information on research degrees at La Trobe University click here .

Detailed information on undergraduate and postgraduate courses is available from the La Trobe University handbook. Further information regarding the Department of Electronic Engineering may be obtained by writing to: