Book excerpt: The maturing of the baby boomers has heralded the age of the bionic man, who is literally composed of various replacement organs or biomechanical parts. This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date scientific source of biomedical engineering principles of ?replacement parts and assist devices? for the bionic man. It contains topics ranging from biomechanical, biochemical, rehabilitation, and tissue engineering principles, to applications in cardiovascular, visual, auditory, and neurological systems, as well as recent advances in transplant, gene therapy, and stem cell research.