Syllabus for BME 3 Treating Diabetes (Winter 2026)

Course Number: BME 3

Course Title: Engineering Innovations in Treating Diabetes(Abbreviated Title:Treating Diabetes)

Course Goals and Description: The goal of this course is to introduce students to engineering in  medicine.The course teaches both a qualitative description of engineering innovations in medicine over the past century and numerical techniques to find approximate solutions to optimization problems.Throughout the course,these medical engineering innovations are tied to optimization. The idea that practical engineering solutions must be optimal is stressed.

Catalogue Description: Innovations in diabetes treatment from the 1800's until the present:

purification of insulin,measuring and control of blood glucose,recombinant DNA,clinical trials and ethics.Solving optimization problems in engineering with Excel.

Prerequisites: None.

Fulfills General Education Categories: II(Science   and   Technology),Va(Quantitative,Symbolic, and Computational Reasoning)

Student Learning Outcomes:

Upon completing this course,students will be able to:

1.Demonstrate an understanding of principles underlying design and operation of technology. For instance,how insulin is produced today and how blood glucose meters work.

2.Demonstrate an understanding of natural phenomena that surrounds and influences our lives. For  instance, how diseases like diabetes are treated and how these treatments have improved over time.

3.Understand the concept and purpose of mathematical models as related to optimization problems.

4.Possess an elementary grasp of the power and limits of mathematical models.

5.Apply tools of mathematics to the analysis and evaluation of everyday situations.

Grading  and  Course  Requirements: The final course grade will be determined by combining grades from the 10 quizzes(40%),5 homework projects (25%),9 reading and discussion assignments  (25%)and a final exam(10%)

Outline of Lectures:

Week 1: Getting started.How does this online class work?Registering with perusal.com Download and  install  Microsoft  Office  Pro  Plus.Grading.Readings/discussion,Homework,Quizzes.

Week 2:Diabetes Pre-insulin.The importance of basic research.Diabetes discovery pre1800.The discovery of the pancreas.Improvements in surgical technique.Oscar Minkowski's removal of the  pancreas.Animals  in  testing,anti-vivisection.Understanding  optimization  problems.

Week 3: Living with diabetes before insulin.George Minot's background and life,diagnosis. Elizabeth Hughes life and diagnosis.Starvation diet for treating diabetes.Early 1900's.Fred   Banting’s work in Toronto.

Week  4. Industrialization  and  purification  of insulin.Collip's alcohol purification.Scaling up

purification and pH.Early pH meters.Patent and Licensing.Eli Lilly and the discovery of isoelectric purification.Using Excel's to help solve combinatorial optimization problems.

Week 5. Complications from diabetes.Peripheral arterial disease and foot,kidney,eye problems. Neuropathy and other complications.Examples with particular historical patients:George Minot and case studies.

Week 6.  Glucose measurements.Measurements from urine.Ames Reflective Meter.Detlev Müller and the isolation of glucose oxidase.Leland Clarke invents the oxygen electrode.Today,continuous glucose monitors.Control of glucose by changing food and insulin.NPH insulin.Modern drug

delivery.Using Excel's Solver to find an optimal circuit through 20 different points on a graph.

Week 7. Clinical Trials.Understanding the structure of clinical trials.The Tolstoi control controversy resolved by DCCT and fundus photography.Modern clinical trials with beta carotene.Interpreting

clinical trials.

Week 8. Recombinant production of insulin.Projected insulin shortage in the 70's.Synthesis of

insulin.Axel Ulrich clones insulin from an insulinoma.Ethical concerns in the US about recombinant DNA research.Eli Lilly and Irving Johnson mass produce recombinant insulin.Modern engineered  insulins.Hand optimization of scheduling problems.

Week 9.Insulin   delivery   methods:pens,pumps,breathable   insulin.Artificial    pancreas.C-peptide therapy as a therapeutic for diabetes.

Week  10. Later advances in diagnosing and treating diabetes.Anthony Cerami and Hemoglobin A1c tests.Importance of diversity in engineering.Margaret Crane and the home pregnancy test.Future   of Technology for Diabetes.Using Excel's Solver with scheduling problems.

Final Exam. The final exam is held online.Students will be able to take it anytime Tuesday, Wednesday,or Thursday of finals week.