Applications of synthetic materials in medicine date back over 4000 year2. The Egyptians used linen as sutures. In the Roman Empire, gold was used in dentistry. Perhaps even earlier, ivory and bone may have been used in the body by practitioners of the healing arts. The historical origins of modem biomaterials science are also hard to precisely trace, but many of the ideas that define biomaterials as we know them today evolved in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Surface modification technology has played a prominent role in biomaterials science, and has paralleled the evolution of the modem field. In a symposium organized by the Artifical Heart Program of the NIH National Heart Institute and the Artificial Kidney program of the NIH National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1968, there were already a number of presentations on surface modification. Surface characterization at that time included scanning electron microscopy, ellipsometry, contact angle methods, and infrared internal reflection methods.

A one-stop Desk Reference, for Biomedical Engineers involved in the ever expanding and very fast moving area; this is a book that will not gather dust on the shelf. It brings together the essential professional reference content from leading international contributors in the biomedical engineering field. Material covers a broad range of topics including: Biomechanics and Biomaterials; Tissue Engineering; and Biosignal Processing
* A hard-working desk reference providing all the essential material needed by biomedical and clinical engineers on a day-to-day basis
* Fundamentals, key techniques, engineering best practice and rules-of-thumb together in one quick-reference sourcebook
* Definitive content by the leading authors in the field, including Buddy Ratner, Joseph Dyro, Sverre Grimnes, Richard Kyle and Bernhard Preim

Applications of synthetic materials in medicine date back over 4000 year2. The Egyptians used linen as sutures. In the Roman Empire, gold was used in dentistry. Perhaps even earlier, ivory and bone may have been used in the body by practitioners of the healing arts. The historical origins of modem biomaterials science are also hard to precisely trace, but many of the ideas that define biomaterials as we know them today evolved in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Surface modification technology has played a prominent role in biomaterials science, and has paralleled the evolution of the modem field. In a symposium organized by the Artifical Heart Program of the NIH National Heart Institute and the Artificial Kidney program of the NIH National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1968, there were already a number of presentations on surface modification. Surface characterization at that time included scanning electron microscopy, ellipsometry, contact angle methods, and infrared internal reflection methods.