Biomedical science is the basic science that underpins medicine, making it the foundational knowledge and skills required for healthcare professionals. It is a broad category comprising courses of scientific study related to biology that affects healthcare. The major disciplines of biomedical science include human anatomy and physiology, cell biology, genetics, biochemistry, microbiology, immunology, neuroscience, pharmacology, and bioinformatics, together with biomedical instrumentation and technology.
However, if any biomedical science programme wants to reap the real benefits of achieving its intended learning outcomes, the curriculum should be designed to combine it with scientific rigour and 21st century skills, emphasising life-long learning to keep abreast of the ever-evolving field of biomedical science.
A person who is trained in biomedical science can play a pivotal role in mediating between many stakeholders in the industry.
For example, present-day medical practitioners face increasing challenges coping with new technological advancements that come to light on a daily basis. For example, “omics (any of several areas of biological study defined by the investigation of the entire complement of a specific type of biomolecule or the totality of a molecular process within an organism)” technologies based primarily on the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequencing of organisms are revolutionising medical discoveries from cancer screening to detecting brain-eating amoeba through hypothesis-free diagnostic modalities such as metagenomics (the study of genetic material recovered directly from environmental or clinical samples by a method called sequencing). Here, biomedical scientists can collaborate among different groups, unifying common worthy goals in the field.
In a country like the US, the incorporation of biomedical applications into the healthcare system comes with an extra price. It shoots up the medical bills and health insurance. As a result, science and technology are viewed by many as having contributed to the high cost of healthcare. While this scenario is different in Sri Lanka, a majority of the students in the General Certificate of Education Advanced Level Biology stream are dreamers of the medical field. In this context, mushrooming, entry-level biomedical science courses, purely based on a niche market, without well-planned, long-term career goals, need re-evaluation. This is because, in addition to the price tag the students have to incur, the time period that students spend at a critical window of their career path without proper directions into the next career level is problematic and noteworthy. Special attention should go to students who cannot afford to continue the foreign studies component of the biomedical degree due to the exorbitant price structures involved.
If biomedical science students are trained to do higher studies by an institute, a vigorous research component is a must in the curriculum. It is paramount that towards the end of the programme, the students are well-equipped with basic laboratory skills along with a decent understanding of the scientific method. The course coordinators should strive to set the stage for students to network with local as well as foreign scientists and other related professionals. This should include developing student portfolios consisting of language requirements and competitive statements of purpose writing along with training on other soft skills to communicate with the international graduate recruiting staff and postgraduate advisors. The students should also be empowered to communicate their ideas across scientific as well as non-scientific communities. This all-inclusive package acts as a springboard for many students to secure higher education positions while the rest can find employment opportunities in countries belonging to Australasia, Europe, and the Americas.
Becoming a biomedically adept professional in a developing country could be a real challenge. However, what society ultimately expects from such an individual is to acquire sound academic knowledge, to be a team player, to solve the diverse problems that arise in the country, to identify the prime obligations and contribute to the welfare of the community and the nation. To achieve these outcomes, Sri Lanka is endowed with a rich history of knowledge and skills surrounding its university system. What is necessary is to have a clear vision of the future needs and priorities and to align them with biomedical science curricula accordingly, so that the graduates who remain in the country will cater to the domestic needs in their full capacity. The effectiveness of such an approach is that you will be able to conduct epidemiological, molecular, and clinical research on the endemic dengue virus, for example, as opposed to extrapolating models published concerning the West Nile virus in the US, and also design genetic assays and conduct direct-to-consumer laboratory testing based on the genetic makeup of the Sri Lankan population rather than from databases derived from populations of European descent.
A strong research culture in State universities can play a crucial role in this context. The organisational structure of different faculties in a university such as science, medicine, allied health, dental, veterinary, engineering, and agriculture invariably help in designing comprehensive biomedical science degree programmes along with thorough research arms. For example, the research done on phytochemicals (chemicals produced by plants and chemicals from plants that may affect health, but are not essential nutrients) with a botanical, chemical, and computational framework can lay the research foundation with some parallels to a drug development pipeline in a pharmaceutical giant like Pfizer, i.e. in silico (performed on computer or via computer simulation and experimental techniques performed by computers) drug screening coupled with in vitro (denoting in glass and performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context) and in vivo (denoting within the living and concerns tests, experiments, and procedures that researchers perform in or on a whole living organism, such as a person, laboratory animal, or plant) validation. After the Covid-19 pandemic, a whole slew of research opportunities is opening up so that the careful designing of projects to solve the problems of the country can deliver a research experience to our students on par with a heavily invested biomedical science degree programme in a developed country.
Taken together, biomedical science students should be engaged in an ongoing process rather than a single event called graduation with a degree. The word “until” should be the norm here. The students should continually work on their progress until they land on their dream career path and job, and upgrade afterwards. They can become a part of international networks in their research field and apply for memberships in the respective professional bodies. By offering such biomedical science courses while enriching the talent pool domestically, there should be efforts to facilitate networking opportunities with local and foreign experts in the field. The biomedical science programme itself should facilitate bridging the gap between the two groups.
In designing programmes of such calibre, great attention should go not just to cognitive overload but to problem-solving, critical thinking, and metacognition (thinking about one’s thinking and referring to the processes used to plan, monitor, and assess one’s understanding and performance) of students’ learning. As a result, students can join the professional workforce and become thought leaders, facing the challenges of their generation. Here is an open invitation to join hands with the true leaders of the field so that you will be in experienced hands for your postgraduate training.
(The author is a Senior Lecturer attached to the Peradeniya University’s Science Faculty’s Botany Department.
The Peradeniya University’s Postgraduate Institute of Science’ Board of Study in Biomedical Sciences is offering the first-course component – the Postgraduate Advanced Certificate Course in Biomedical Science – in mid-March 2023, with a lecturing panel well-trained in the best universities of the world and a wealth of industry affiliations partaking in the practical component, while the students can also enrol in the upcoming Master of Science degree in Biomedical Science which has been designed in accordance with the Sri Lanka Qualification Framework)
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.