Welcome to Progress in Biomedical Engineering

Progress in Biomedical Engineering is a new interdisciplinary journal publishing high-quality authoritative reviews and opinion pieces in the most significant and exciting areas of biomedical engineering research. Invited content by leading experts on the current state of the science and emerging trends aims to fuel discussion on the future direction of research. We have formed a great team of associate editors, consisting of Alex Frangi from University of Leeds, Eric Brey from University of Texas at San Antonio, and Paolo Bonato from Harvard University. We are currently establishing an editorial board representing diverse biomedical engineering fields, backgrounds and geographic regions. Luke P Lee, Utkan Demirci, Conor Walsh, Hayit Greenspan, and Giacomo Severini have recently joined our board.

In our inaugural issue, we have two review and one perspective articles. In our perspective article [1], David Williams from Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine reports his opinions on a critical topic in implantable biomedical device research and commercialization: the biocompatibility of materials used in implantable devices. Adverse side effects of such devices are damaging to the medical device industry and the relevant clinical disciplines. To avoid such adverse effects, we need to understand the detailed mechanisms of biocompatibility and the development of the host response. Current knowledge is out-of-date and new information about inflammation, immunity and fibrosis also need to be taken into consideration. This article discusses this new knowledge and presents new biocompatibility paradigms, involving mechanotransduction and sterile inflammation. Dr Williams proposes new procedures for the determination of biological safety based on such new knowledge. If such procedures are implemented, they could improve the patient safety significantly.

Related to the exciting areas of biomaterials, organ-on-a-chip systems, and bioprinting, Ali Khademhosseini's group from the University of California, Los Angeles presents and discusses the emergence of bioprinting in organ-on-chip systems [2]. Recent advances in biomaterials, bioengineering, and additive manufacturing have led to the development of printed tissues, lab-on-chip devices, and organ-on-chip systems. Such technologies enable fabrication of more physiologically representative human tissues, which can be used for high-throughput in vitro testing on human cells and organoids which could also reduce the amount of in vivo animal tests. Organ-on-chip systems allow for the precise control and manipulation of cellular microenvironments with multiple cell types. Recently bioprinting has emerged as a tool to enable further control over these cellular environments. In a one step process, three-dimensional (3D) printing of multiple biomaterials and cell types can provide precisely controlled structures. This review article reports and discusses recent advances in organ-on-chip systems and 3D bioprinting techniques for the development of in vitro physiological models.

Medical microrobots is an emerging robotics and biomedical engineering field. Our second review article from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems is on translational prospects of untethered medical microrobots, which could have the potential to transform medicine radically [3]. Small wireless medical robots can access to and navigate in confined, small, hard-to-reach, and sensitive inner body sites, where they can provide new ways of minimally invasive interventions and targeted diagnosis and therapy with high precision. Although many exciting research progresses have been demonstrated recently related to wireless miniature medical robot concepts, in vivo preclinical testing and clinical translation of such devices for specific medical applications have not been achieved yet. Therefore, this article provides a translational perspective on medical microrobotics research with an application-oriented, integrative design approach, and critically reviews the current microrobotic system designs from this perspective. It also defines the essential aspects of a medical microrobot to function properly and safely in given in vivo conditions of a targeted medical problem. Furthermore, the article discusses the complexity of the challenges ahead, the potential directions to overcome them, and the potential regulatory aspects of medical microrobots toward their bench-to-bedside translation.

The Progress in Biomedical Engineering team is excited to publish high-impact review and perspective articles from the biomedical engineering and other communities to critically analyze the current state-of-the-art progress, report and discuss the current scientific and engineering challenges, propose paradigms or approaches to tackle such challenges, and provide a future perspective and vision. While our editorial board is actively recruiting high-impact articles, any one is welcome to submit an article proposal with a detailed outline to be evaluated by our editorial board.