Combining engineering and medicine research projects with biological applications, the contributions in this volume constitute the efforts of both distinguished scientists and young investigators in various fields of biomedical engineering at Tohoku University, one of Japan's leading scientific research universities.The Tohoku University 21st Century COE Program ¿Future Medical Engineering Based on Bionanotechnology¿ is ¿ out of 113 programmes chosen by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2002 - the only one program devoted to biomedical engineering. This book comprises the proceedings of the final closing symposium to be held in January 2007, and summarizes all the efforts of the program in a comprehensive manner. In total, more than 100 authors from the engineering and medical schools of Tohoku University have contributed to this volume, through which readers can understand all the research results carried out under the umbrella of the program.

Cellular Function and Molecular Operation: Progress of Our Research in Auditory Mechnaics (H Wada); Generation of Stable Chinese Hamster Ovary Cell Lines Expressing the Motor Protein Prestin (K Iida et al.); Protection of Outer Hair Cells from Traumatic Noise by Conditioning with Heat Stress (M Murakoshi et al.); Time-Lapse Observation of Neural Epithelium Cell Behavior in Slice Culture (N Nakamura et al.); Nano-Medicine: Development of Novel Medical Engineering Using Micro-Nanomachining (M Esashi); Biomimetic Artificial Myocardium Using Nano Technology (T Yambe); MEMS-Based Fuel Cell for Portable Medical Applications (K-B Min et al.); Lithium Niobate Bulk Micromachining for Medical Sensors (A Randles et al.); Imaging of the Biological Molecule and Structure: Brain Imaging of Quality of Life Using Positron Emission Tomography (M Itoh & M Tashiro); Human Brain Metabolic Changes Induced by Actual Car-Driving (M Jeong et al.); Automatic Medical Image Registration Using Mutual Information (K Kumagai et al.); The Comparison of Brain Structure Between Exercised and Non-Exercised Students (H Sensui et al.); Medical Informatics: Computational Approaches to Hemodynamics Analysis from Micro to Macro Scales (T Yamaguchi); A Fluid-Solid Interaction Study of the Pulse Wave Velocity in Uniform Arteries (T Fukui et al.); CFD Tools in Engineering Design Studies and Medical Sciences (P S Kulkarni); Evaluation of an Index for Cardiac Function During Assitance with a Rotary Blood Pump (D Ogawa et al.); and other papers.