With the launch of the Biological and Chemical Process Engineering (BCPE) specialisation in MPE within the College of Engineering in the academic year 2002/2003, the training of our engineers will be broadened by introducing concepts and fundamentals in biology and chemistry. We aspire to train a new breed of engineers with a solid foundation in mechanical engineering and broad knowledge in chemical processes and biology.
Undergraduate students of the School of Mechanical and Production Engineering interested in combining engineering and applied sciences with biology or chemical process can benefit from this specialisation. The courses are aimed at training engineers for jobs related to the chemical and pharmaceutical processes, tissue engineering, nanobiotechnology (e.g. "lab-on-a-chip"), biosensor and bioinformatics.
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BCPE targets students who are interested in the design and operation of processes related to biological systems to promote health. These processes include microfluidics, and chemical, mechanical and electrical manipulation of cell, proteins and genes. This is particularly relevant to manufacture of medical devices and therapeutic device and materials (e.g. biological drug design) and tissue engineering.
Other processes include pharmaceutical, chemical and biochemical processes. Hence, the objective of the BCPE specialisation is to prepare students in the basic foundation of engineering of biological systems. It encompasses more than biotechnology and BCPE is aimed to be taught as a discipline as opposed to biotechnology which is an applied field of biological engineering. The School of Mechanical Engineering in NTU is well-poised for such a final option with its supporting research centers and laboratories like MicroMachines Center, Tissue Engineering Laboratory, BCPE Laboratory, Nanotechnology and Precision Engineering Center, Bioinformatics Center and its close tie with the School of Biological Sciences.
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The curriculum of this specialisation was established with the consultation of EDB, the School of Biological Sciences at NTU and industrial companies. The specialisation was successfully launched with the introduction of 6 new courses. These are Chemical Engineering Unit Operations, Chemical Reaction Engineering, Process Control in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries, Biological Chemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology and Cellular Bioengineering. The course is currently being attended by fourth year students and is being presented by 8 lecturers. The School has also invested in the setting up of a new laboratory called Biological and Chemical Process Engineering, to support this new specialisation.
The new specialisation is important for the emerging biologically-related industry of Singapore. These new companies can be bioinformatics-related companies working on protein-drug interactions, biochip companies working on microarray generation, microfluidics and miniaturized diagnostic devices or implants, chemical process or pharmaceutical plants manufacturing intermediates for drugs or vaccines, tissue engineering company and cellular instrumentation company.
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