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International Congress on Biological and Medical Engineering
Incorporating the
5th Asia Pacific Conference on Medical and Biological Engineering &
11th International Conference on Biomedical Engineering
December 4 - 7, 2002
Singapore
The 5th Asia Pacific Conference on Medical and Biological Engineering was held in conjunction with the 11th International
Conference on Biomedical Engineering. Collectively it is known as the International Congress on Biological and Medical
Engineering. It was held in the Raffles City Convention Center, Singapore from the 4th to 7th December 2002.
The theme for this congress was "The Bio-Era: New Frontiers, New Challenges", so called because we
believe that in this Century of Biology, (especially with the successful mapping of the human genome) Bioengineering will
face new challenges. It will require the cross-linking of different disciplines in biomedicine, science and engineering
to bring the field to new frontiers in medicine and healthcare. This post-genomic era will bring about endless
possibilities in the advancement of biomedical sciences and the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic treatment
for health and disease. Coupled with bioinformatics and biomolecular engineering, this can bring about better precision
in early detection of diseases such as cancer and the personalised prescriptions of appropriate drugs.
Furthermore, with the advances in nanotechnology, the concept of "laboratory on a chip" will soon become a reality. The
proliferation of knowledge and technique in isolation and expansion of stem cells will enhance and complement the
development of tissue and organ engineering. This field will be exploited further with emerging technology in bioprocessing
and new biomaterials. Advances in biomedical imaging together with robotics and elegant navigation systems, allow
surgeons to perform operations with procedures that are minimally invasive and with pinpoint accuracy.
New and exciting possibilities in life sciences, in particular the area of biomedicine, are developing. We are standing at
the threshold of new frontiers where new challenges in biological and medical engineering beckon. This Congress has allowed
us to bring together participants in their respective fields of expertise for discussions, interactions and the
collaborative development of our theme for the Congress.
The congress attracted more then 600 participants from 32 countries around the world, of which 65% were from the
Asia-Pacific region. This year we also saw a large percentage of participation from graduate students. This is a good
and healthy sign for biomedical engineering in Asia.
The Congress Opening Address was given by Prof. Louis Lim, Executive Director, BioMedical Research Council, Agency for
Science, Technology and Research, Singapore. He spoke on Singapore's commitment to research in the Life Sciences. This
is evident in the 194-hectare "Biopolis" project to be completed by mid 2003. It will be an integrated complex with 5
state-of-the-art Research Institutes and dedicated laboratory space and physical infrastructure for research-based
companies and organisations. Among the research institutes to be set up in the Biopolis, is the Institute of Bioengineering
and Nanotechnology.
The Scientific Program consisted of 455 oral and poster presentations. Due to the diversity of the field of biomedical
engineering, we invited 45 world-renowned experts to give plenary lectures as well as keynote addresses. The excellent
plenary lectures set the tone of the congress and were given by:
- Prof Shu Chien (UCSD) - "Molecular Basis Of Mechanotransduction";
- Prof Dov Jaron (Drexel) - "Biomedical Engineering In The 21st Century";
- Prof. Allan Hoffman, (UWash) - "Biomaterials Development In The 20th Century And Evolution Into The 21st Century";
- Prof Fumihiko Kajiya, (Okayama Univ) - "Functional Imaging From Molecule To System By Synchrotron Radiation";
- Prof Edison Liu (GIS, Singapore), "Genome Biology And The Future Of Medicine";
- Prof Robert Nerem (Georgia Tech) - "Advances In Tissue Engineering"; and
- Prof Savio Woo (Pittsburgh) - "Contribution Of Biomechanics To Clinical Practice In Orthopaedics".
Each of the keynote speakers did a wonderful job in setting the platform for the subsequent scientific session that follows.
The invited speakers were: Prof KN AN (Mayo Clinic), Prof G Artmann (UAS Aachen), Dr. F Bodem (Mainz), Prof F Chan
(Hong Kong), Prof K B Chandran (Iowa), Prof W Chang, (CYCU, Taiwan), Prof GL CHANG (NCKU, Taiwan), Prof R Cheng (NYMU, Taiwan),
Prof D Cohn (Hebrew), Prof S Einav (Tel Aviv), Prof J Goh, (NUS, Singapore), Prof P Gopalkrishnakone (NUS, Singapore),
Prof Y Ikada, (Suzuka, Japan), Prof M Kikuchi (NDMC, Japan), Prof SI Kim (Hanyang, South Korea), Dr L Lee (DMRI, Singapore),
Prof XY Liu (NUS, Singapore), Prof A Mak (HKPU, Hong Kong), Prof A Mayevsky (Bar Ilan), Prof LV McIntire (Rice),
Prof C Migliaresi, (Trento), Prof B Milthorpe (UNSW), Prof A Murray (Newcastle), Prof JP Paul (Strathclyde),
Prof M Pearcy (QUT), Prof G Rajagopal (BI, Singapore), Prof R Kirsner (Swinburne UT), Prof M Singh (IIT),
Prof SH Teoh (NUS, Singapore), Prof N Thakor (JHU), Prof M Umezu (Waseda), Prof AP Yoganathan (Georgia Tech),
Prof YT Zhang (CUHK, Hong Kong).
The Gala Banquet was held in the Mandarin Ballroom, Mandarin Hotel, Singapore with the theme
"Kampung Nite". We were treated to a traditional Chinese 10-course dinner and performances by a three-piece folk group
and a choir. That night we honored four distinguished scientists who are regarded as role models and have made major
contributions to the field of biomedical engineering. They have also actively served as a member of the ICBME International
Advisory Panel (IAP) and participated in many of the past conferences. The ICBME Honorary Distinguished Awards recipients
were: Prof. Friedrich Bodem (Mainz, Germany), Prof John P Paul (Strathclyde, UK), Prof Mitsuo Umezu (Waseda, Japan)
and Prof Ajit P Yoganathan (Georgia Tech, USA)
It has been a tremendous honour and joy for us in Singapore to host this congress. Overall we feel that this congress has
contributed significantly to the graduate students in biomedical engineering, as indeed they will face the new frontiers
and challenges in this Bio-Era. We trust that they will keep the BME banner flying, particularly in the Asia-Pacific
region. We would like to thank all the invited speakers who have made the sacrifices of time and resources to participate
in this congress.
James Goh
Chairman, Organising Committee
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