ECE416
ECE 416 (Biosensors) is a 3-credit-hour course that satisfies the Technical Electives requirements for ECE majors. It is the same course as BIOE 416 and offered only in spring semesters.
Content Covered
- Concepts used to measure performance of detection methods: accuracy, resolution, response
- Sensing technologies and their principles, such as acoustic, fluorescence, electrochemistry, and relevant optical/electromagnetic methods
- Brief overview of imaging
- Genetics, DNA sequencing, surface chemistry
This course is updated constantly, so the most current methods are always covered. Included are a few class-organized trips to visit Bioengineering scientists in their labs. They perform experiments with the tools and methods students learn in the class. Here, students will have the chance to ask questions and obtain some of the information they will need to answer class assignments.
Prerequisites
ECE 329 is the only prerequisite, but it is not enforced, and some students have taken the course without 329. It is thus recommended, but not enforced, that you take ECE 329 before this course.
When to Take It
Part of this class has to do with electromagnetic radiation and waveguides, so students will benefit the most from it if they take ECE350 either before it or concurrently. Those who are considering going into the Biosensor/Bioengineering realm should take this class as early as possible. The skills and knowledge taught in this class will allow students to navigate comfortably when doing undergraduate research and exploring other classes.
Course Structure
Even though the work in this class is well balanced, it continues evolving to find the right balance between theoretical and practical learning. In the past, the course work was structured with bi-weekly non-cumulative quizzes intermingled with bi-weekly homework. Some of the assignments included modeling with software commonly used in this field. A class paper is due on the last day of the semester, though various installments are due throughout the semester. The paper is about reporting on a novel Biosensor technology and recommending an improvement, or finding a new use for a technology. Writing this paper is fun and very instructive for those who work on it throughout the semester, but it can be a great weight if put off until the last minute. There is no final exam in this class, but there is a final quiz that weighs slightly more more and it is cumulative.
Instructors
This class was started by Professor Brian Cunningham in 2006 and has been offered every Spring Semester since then under his direction. He is an expert in the field of bioengineering and has considerable academic and entrepreneurial experience. As part of the class, invited experts in related areas also come to talk about the latest developments in their work.
Life After
After taking this class, many students choose to focus on technologies based on electromagnetism, biomedical imaging and MEMS devices. There are various classes that go deeper into electromagnetism theory related to Bioengineering applications such as ECE531 (Guided EM Waves), ECE467 (Biophotonics) and ECE455 (Optical Electronics). ECE310 (Digital Signal Processing), ECE380 (Biomedical Imaging), ECE460 (Optical Imaging) and ECE472 (Ultrasound Imaging) are good courses to take for those inclined towards imaging and signal processing. Those who liked the hardware and circuit design aspect of Biosensors will find ECE485 (MEMS Devices), ECE447 (Microwave Circuit Design) and ECE414 (Biomedical Instrumentation) useful.