What is biomolecular engineering?
Biological systems are primarily chemical systems. Chemical engineers are taught how to link chemistry and engineering. Chemical engineers with knowledge of biology and biochemistry can best address those aspects of bioengineering that involve chemical change/chemical signals. With the rapid growth of our knowledge of molecular and cell biology, functional genomics and biochemical signaling, the potential role for chemical engineers in bioengineering is increasing rapidly. NIH (National Institutes of Health) has recognized a special role for chemical engineers. In a 1992 meeting they defined a new term, “Biomolecular Engineering,” as “Research at the interface of chemical engineering and biology with an emphasis at the molecular level.” Chemical engineers are taught formally to think across scales: from the molecular scale to the macroscopic scale, particularly in the presence of chemical change. No other discipline provides such emphasis on an integrated systems perspective across a w
