UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING

Academic Unit V

Bachelor of Engineering
(Computer Science & Engineering)
Biology For Engineers
23SZT-148

INTRODUCTION
Biology for Engineers 1

DISCOVER . LEARN .
EMPOWER
 INTRODUCTION
Course Objective

• This subject is designed to impart

fundamental knowledge on basic of
genetics and emerging fields of
biology like biomedical recording
system and medical instrumentation.

• It is designed to impart knowledge that

how to apply basics of biology in
engineering.
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bioenginyeria-hero-header_1.jpg
Biology for Engineers 2
 INTRODUCTION
 Space for visual (size 24)
Course Outcome

CO Title Level
Number
CO1 Identify the biological concepts from an knowledge
engineering perspective.
CO2 Development of artificial systems mimicking Understand
human action.
CO3 Explain the basic of genetics that helps to Analyze
identify and formulate problems

CO4 Apply knowledge of measurement system, Apply

Will be covered in
biomedical recording system and biosensors to this lecture
excel in areas such as entrepreneurship,
medicine, government, and education.
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CO5 Biology for

Integrate
Engineers
biological principles for developing Create 3
next generation technologies,
 SYLLABUS

Unit-1 Importance of Biology In Engineering Contact Hours: 15

Introduction: Fundamental Differences between Science and engineering

Chapter 1 by drawing a comparison between eye and camera, Bird flying and
Significance of aircraft. Significance of Biology in Engineering, Discuss how biological
Biology in observations of 18th Century that lead to major discoveries, Examples
Engineering from Brownian motion and the origin of thermodynamics by referring to
the original observation of Robert and Julius Mayor.

Genetics: Mendel’s laws, Concept of segregation and independent

Chapter 2 assortment, concept of allele, gene mapping, Gene interaction, Epitasis,
Genetics Meiosis and Mitosis as a part of genetics. Mechanism of how genetic
material passes from parent to offspring. Concepts of recessiveness and
dominance. Concept of mapping of phenotype to Genes, single gene
disorders in humans, concept of complementation using human genetics.
4

Biology for Engineers

 WHY DO WE NEED TO KNOW
BIOLOGY
 To find solutions to
challenges, that face
mankind

 Biology is us, we are all

biological creatures

Biology for Engineers 5

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 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Biology for Engineers

Fundamental Difference between
Science and Engineering
 Generally, Science is the study of the physical world,
while Engineering applies scientific knowledge to design
processes, structures or equipment.
 Both Engineers and Scientists will have a strong
knowledge of science, mathematics and technology, but
Engineering students will learn to apply these principles
to designing creative solutions to Engineering
challenges.
 So when we think of a scientist versus engineer, the two
aren’t separate entities but belong to each other –
without science, there wouldn’t be engineering
Biology for Engineers 7
 FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

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Science
 Science is the study of the nature and behavior of natural
things and the knowledge that we obtain about them

 Science is the field of study concerned with discovering and

describing the world around us by observing and
experimenting

 Science is defined as the observation, identification,

description, experimental investigation, and theoretical
explanation of natural phenomena
Biology for Engineers 9
Engineering
 Engineering, the application of science to the optimum
conversion of natural resources to the uses of humankind

 Engineering is the creative application of scientific

principles to design or develop structures, machines,
apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing
them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the
same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast
their behavior under specific operating conditions; all as
respects an intended function, economics of operation and
safety to life and property
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There are four questions that
can help you frame your
explanation of the differences
between engineering and
science

Biology for Engineers 11

I. What’s the simple definition?
 Science is the body of knowledge that explores the physical and
natural world. Engineering is the application of knowledge in order to
design, build and maintain a product or a process that solves a problem
and fulfills a need (i.e. a technology).

 The essence of science is inquiry; the essence of engineering is

design.
 Scientific inquiry expands the scope of human perception and
understanding; engineering design expands the scope of human plans and
results

 Science is knowledge of facts and engineering is application of these

facts
Biology for Engineers 12
II. What’s the procedure?

 Scientists use the scientific  Engineers use the engineering

method. design process.
 The scientist starts with asking  Engineers start by defining the
a question. Then they do problem, then they identify the
background research, criteria and constraints,
formulate a hypothesis, test brainstorm ideas, plan, create
that hypothesis by conducting a technology and improve upon
an experiment, analyze the their design.
data and communicate their
results.

Biology for Engineers 13

III. What’s the goal?
 Scientists and engineers have different
goals.

 Scientists seek to describe and understand the

natural world.

 Engineers consider various criteria and

constraints in order to design solutions to
problems, needs and wants that better the lives
of humans, animals and/or the environment.
Biology for Engineers 14
IV. What’s the result and impact?
 Scientists use their varied approaches—controlled experiments or
longitudinal observational studies—to generate knowledge. The final
result might be a research paper or a book, and the knowledge therein
can be used to help us understand and make predictions about the
natural world.
 Engineers use scientific knowledge to create a technology.
 What does this mean in a real-world context?
 Example: A virologist is a scientist who researches how viruses are spread
and how they affect the human body. A biomedical engineer can use the
virologist's research to create an anti-viral drug that blocks a certain virus
from spreading to new cells in the body.
 In this way, both engineers and scientists are extremely important, and
both fields benefit from the ingenuity and hard work of its counterpart. In
some cases, scientists rely on the innovations that engineers design to
further their research (e.g. microscopes or monitors)
Biology for Engineers 15
COMPARISON BETWEEN EYE AND
CAMERA

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Comparison between eye and camera

 Eye is an organ of sight while a camera is

equipment that is used to record images

 How eye works….. The facts gathered by using

different fields of science (like biology, physics
etc.) and then human engineered camera by
using these facts

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Comparison between eye and camera
 The human eye lets us see the world by sending
impulses to our nervous system. In many ways, it is
very similar to other optical devices, including
cameras.

 Your eyes and your brain work together to allow you

to see. In fact, human eyes and brains have been
coevolving for millions of years.

 Your eyes are a bit like something else that

captures images of the world: a camera.
Biology for Engineers 18
Comparison between eye and camera
 The camera and the human eye have much more in
common than just conceptual philosophy — the eye
captures images similar to the way the camera does.
 The anatomy of the camera bears more similarities
to a biological eyeball than many would imagine,
including the lens-like cornea and the film-like retina.
 Similarities like these give the camera the
appearance of a robotic eye. However, though there
are many similarities between cameras and eyes,
they are by no means identical.

Biology for Engineers 19

How are an eye and a camera
similar?
 An eye and a camera both have lenses
and light-sensitive surfaces.

 Your iris controls how much light

enters your eye.
 Your lens helps focus the light.
 The retina is a light-sensitive surface at the
back of your eye. It captures an image of
what you’re looking at.
 Then, the retina sends impulses to your
brain along the optic nerve. Finally, the A human eye has a lens (1), pupil
brain interprets what you’re seeing. (2), iris (3), cornea (4), retina (5),
Biology for Engineers
optic nerve 20
(6), and blind spot (7)
How are an eye and a camera
similar? Cross-section of a single-lens
 This is similar to what happens when a reflex (SLR) camera (© 2019
camera captures an image. Let’s Talk Science)

 First, light hits the surface of the camera’s

lens.
 The aperture controls how much light
enters the camera.
 Then, the light makes its way to a light-
sensitive surface.
 For a long time, this surface was the
camera’s film. In today’s digital cameras,
An SLR camera has a lens (1),
this surface is an imaging sensor chip. mirror (2), aperture (3), prism (4),
Biology for Engineers 21
film or imaging sensor (5) and
eyepiece (6)
 ANATOMY OF CAMERA & EYE

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Cornea and Lens
 The cornea is the “cap” of the eye. This transparent (like
clear jelly) structure sits to the front of the eye and has a
spherical curvature.
 The lens of a camera is also transparent (glass) and sits at
the front of the body.
 Like the cornea, the lens also maintains a spherical
curvature.
 The corneal and lens curvature allows for the eye and
camera to view, though not in focus, a limited area to both
the right and the left.
 That is, without the curve, the eye and camera would see
only what is directly in front of it.
Biology for Engineers 23
Iris and Aperture
 Light adjustment: Both the eye and a camera can adjust
quantity of light entering.
 On a camera, it’s done with the aperture control built into your lens,
whilst in your eye, it’s done by having a larger or smaller iris.
 The aperture is to the camera as the iris is to the eye, and this
reveals one of many similarities between cameras vs. eyes.
 The aperture size refers to how much light is let into the camera
and will ultimately hit the sensor or film.
 As with the human eye, when the iris contracts itself, the pupil
becomes smaller and the eye takes in less light.
 When the iris widens in darker situations, the pupil becomes
larger, so it can take in more light. The same effect happens with
the aperture; larger (lower) aperture values let in more light than a
small (higher) aperture value.
 The lens opening is the pupil; the smaller the opening, the24 less
Biology for Engineers

light let in.

Focus in Eyes and Cameras
 Image focusing: Human and camera lenses both focus
an inverted image onto light-sensitive surface.
 In the case of a camera, it’s focused onto film or a sensor chip.
 In your eyes, the light-sensitive surface is the retina on the
inside of your eyeball.
 Both the eye and camera have the ability to focus on
one single object and blur the rest, whether in the
foreground (shallow depth of field) or off at a distance.
 Likewise, the eye can focus on a larger image, just as a
camera (greater depth of field) can focus and capture a
large scape.

Biology for Engineers 25

Scope and Field of View
 As the eye, the camera has a limited scope to
take in what is around it.
 The curvature of the eye and the lens allow for
both to take in what is not directly in front of
it.
 However, the eye can only take in a fixed
scope, while a camera’s scope can be
changed by the focal length of different types
of lenses
Biology for Engineers 26
Retina and Film
 The retina sits at the back of the eye and collects the light
reflected from the surrounding environment to form the image.
The same task in the camera is performed either by film or
sensors in digital cameras.
 Retinas, film, and imaging sensor chips all have one other thing
in common. They all receive an inverted (upside-down)
version of the image. Why? The lens in both an eye and a
camera is convex, or curved outwards. When light hits a
convex object, it refracts. This flips the image upside-down.
 But you don’t see images upside-down. And the movies you
watch aren’t upside-down either. Why not?
 This is because your brain steps in to help your eyes. It knows
the world is supposed to be right side up. So it flips the image
over again.
 Digital cameras are programmed to make the correction on
their own. Non-digital cameras contain a prism or mirror that
flips the image so it appears right side up. Film is transparent
so you can view the images on it the right way around.
Biology for Engineers 27
 How are an eye and a camera
different?
 The human eye contains small muscles that contract
and relax – and this enables the lenses in your eyes to
change shape and stay focused on a moving object.
 Thesemuscles also capable of changing the thickness
of the lens to accommodate the image being
viewed.
A camera lens can’t do this. That’s why photographers
change lenses, depending on how far away they are
from an object. Mechanical parts in the camera lens
also adjust to stay focused on a moving object.

Biology for Engineers 28

 How are an eye and a camera
different?
 Simply speaking, the human eye is a subjective device.
 Your eyes work in harmony with your brain to create the
images you perceive: Your eyes are adjusting the focus
(by bending the light through the lens in your eyeballs)
and translating photons (light) into an electrical impulse
your brain can process.
 From there onwards, it’s all about your brain: It is
continuously readjusting its colour balance according to
the lighting context.
 In other words, our eyes know what must be seen as red
or white or black etc.
Biology for Engineers 29
How are an eye and a camera
different?
 A camera, on the other hand, is an absolute measurement
device — It is measuring the light that hits a series of
sensor, but the sensor is ‘dumb’, and the signals recorded
need to be adjusted to suit the color temperature of the
light illuminating the scene, for example
 Lens focus: In camera, the lens moves closer/further from
the film to focus. In your eyes, the lens changes shape to
focus: The muscles in your eyes change the actual shape of
the lens inside your eyes.
 Sensitivity to light: A film in a camera is uniformly
sensitive to light. The human retina is not. Therefore, with
respect to quality of image and capturing power, our eyes
have a greater sensitivity in dark locations than a typical
camera.
Biology for Engineers 30
How does an eye process
colour differently from a
camera?
 Your retinas contain two types of
photoreceptors: rods and cones.
 Rods allow you to see in low light. They
aren’t useful for colour vision.
 Cones let you see in colour. There are
three types of cones. Each type responds
to different wavelengths of light. Red
cones respond to long wavelengths. Blue
cones respond to short wavelengths.
Green cones respond to medium
wavelengths. Location of rods and cones and how they
 When your brain activates different react to different wavelengths of light
(Let’s Talk Science based on an image
combinations of cones, you can see by Graphic_BKK1979 via iStockphoto).
the world in colour.
Biology for Engineers 31
How does an eye process colour
differently from a camera?
 Cameras also have photoreceptors. But they only
have one type.
 Cameras respond to red, blue and green light
using filters placed on top of their
photoreceptors.
 The photoreceptors in a camera are evenly
distributed across the lens.
 In the human eye, however, the cones are
concentrated at the center of the retina. There
are no rods at all at the center of the retina.
Biology for Engineers 32
How else are your eyes different
from a camera?
 Because a camera has photoreceptors all over its
lens, it always sees a “full” picture.
 Your eyes, on the other hand, have a blind spot.
That’s the point where the optic nerve connects to
the retina. It has no photoreceptors at all.
 Most of the time, you don’t notice your blind spot.
This is because when light hits this area of one eye,
your brain uses information from your other eye to fill
in the gap.
 If you want to test your blind spot, you can with a
simple experiment.
Biology for Engineers 33
References
 Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature28 Jul, 2009 by Janine M. Benyus.
 Video link: https://www.digimat.in/nptel/courses/video/121106008/L01.html
 https://youtu.be/ld3A065dELc
 https://medium.com/photography-secrets/whats-the-difference-between-a-
camera-and-a-human-eye-a006a795b09f
 https://letstalkscience.ca/educational-resources/stem-in-context/eye-vs-
camera
 https://unfoldanswers.com/5-similarities-between-birds-and-aircraft/
 https://nptel.ac.in/courses/121/106/121106008/
 https://www.utoledo.edu/engineering/bioengineering/undergrad/prospective/
whatisbioe.html#:~:text=Bioengineering%20is%20the%20application%20of,health%20care
%20and%20other%20fields.
 https://i.pinimg.com/originals/68/c9/30/68c930e95113ceb2e3dfc9de2f164680.png
 https://youtu.be/FBUpnG1G4yQ
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