What does a biological engineer do?

Biological engineers apply principles of engineering to biological systems, combining biology and technology to solve complex problems. They design and develop processes and products, often in areas like healthcare, agriculture, and environmental conservation. This interdisciplinary field involves genetic engineering, biomaterials, and bioprocessing to create innovative solutions. Biological engineers may work on designing medical devices, improving crop yields, or developing sustainable bioenergy sources. Their work contributes to advancements in medicine, food production, and environmental sustainability by integrating engineering methodologies with biological knowledge.

Biological engineering applies engineering principles to biology. It involves understanding and interpreting living organisms and their essential functions, as well as applying this knowledge in botany, conservation, ecology, evolution, genetics, marine biology, medicine, microbiology, molecular biology, physiology, and zoology. Modern applications include biofuels, GMO foods, pharmacogenomics, molecular diagnosis, agricultural biotechnology, synthetic biology, bioremediation, cloning, healthcare, genomics, the Human Genome Project, industrial biotechnology, pest-resistant crops, vaccines, gene therapy, CRISPR, stem cells, chemicals, genetic testing, and pharmaceuticals. Strong background in basic science, biology and numerology are crucial

Other major threats include recent increase in allergies, cancer, and environmental issues versus ever increasing genetic modifications, accidental laboratory leak and pandemic, pharma corruption that's unlawfully promoting prescription drugs and failing to report safety information, from exaggerating or hiding safety and effectiveness data to seeking shortcuts in regulation and bribing prescribers, opioid epidemic, invasive plant species threats to native natural environments,

Think about biological engineering in this way. Most engineers deal with manipulating non-living matter. Materials such as metals, concrete or earth are altered by their design to serve a certain purpose. Bioengineers work with living organisms and how to manipulate these to serve humankind or to improve the environment, or at least lower impact on the environment. Since biological engineering is still seldom offered as a separate program at most universities, the programs listed may not be available. However, environmental engineering is really close to bioengineering, and, depending on the emphasis, chemical engineering is also a good background to start out with. I consider myself a bioengineer, starting out with chemical engineering.

Biological engineering offers various opportunities such as improving food security and systems by increasing production and productivity. It also contributes to mitigating and adapting to climate change, restoring ecosystems and biodiversity, and preventing extinction. Additionally, it leads to significant advancements in healthcare science and technology, resulting in better diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases. This is achieved through the increased production of vaccines, gene therapy, neurotechnology, nanomedicine, and other related fields.