Five Innovations Inducted to AIMBE Hall of Fame

NEWS TRENDS

The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE; Washington, DC) has inducted five innovations into its Hall of Fame. AIMBE honors such technologies for their significant engineering achievements, their use to society, and their ability to save lives and improve quality of life.

The 2007 inductees are contact lenses, flow cytometry and cell sorters, cochlear implants and stimulators, pulse oximeters, and digital hearing aids.

The contact lens is best known, of course, as an alternative to eyeglasses. But, the institute stated in a release, it “has proven critical for the function of numerous people with keratoconus and other maladies.”

The flow cytometer and cell sorter has revolutionized the study of the immune system and cancer. It has also driven the study of proteomics and systems biology, stated the institute.

Cochlear implants and stimulators have enabled more than 100,000 people with severe deafness to hear. As a result, the institute said, they have allowed people who would not otherwise have had the chance to participate normally in society.

Pulse oximetry got the nod because the ability to measure a patient's oxygenation greatly improved the use of anesthetic and has prevented 2000– 10,000 such related deaths each year.

The digital hearing aid, said the institute, has improved the quality of life for millions of people, enabling them to hear sounds and participate in activities that those hard of hearing could not previously enjoy.

The technologies join 26 others that have already been inducted. Voting was done by AIMBE's College of Fellows, which consists of more than 1000 medical and biological engineers recognized as tops in their field, including a number of Nobel Prize winners. Results were unveiled at AIMBE's annual meeting in held in February.

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