REU Site: Penn State Cardiovascular Research: Engineering A Translational Experience (CREATE)

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This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site at Pennsylvania State University-University Park, entitled Penn State Cardiovascular Research: Engineering A Translational Experience (CREATE)," will expose students to research that will elucidate cellular/molecular processes governing biological responses to materials as applied to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the development of therapeutic CVD interventions. This focus on education in cardiovascular disease (CVD) is extremely important and highly relevant for two reasons. First, CVD remains the number one killer in the United States. Thus, there is a great need to develop a pipeline of new engineers and scientists who can become leaders in the detection, prevention, and treatment of the disease. Second, the underlying etiology of CVD and its associated technologies combine to form a perfect platform for training in the creative and integrative thinking that is the hallmark of biomedical engineering. The objectives of this program are: 1) To conduct research on multi-scale problems to improve the understanding and treatment of CVD, 2) To apply the creative process to solve engineering problems applied to CVD treatment or intervention, 3) To be able to describe the process of translating research into marketable technology, and 4) To be able to identify requirements for success in graduate and professional schools. Over a three year period, this REU program will engage undergraduate students in a 10-week intensive hands-on summer research and professional development/training experience, where they will develop proficiency in the underlying concepts and practice of cellular/molecular engineering, microscopy, or computational methods in biomedical engineering while integrating the creative process towards understanding CVD. The program will include individual research projects with faculty research mentors, seminars on safety training, research needs, and responsible conduct of research, workshops on the creative process applied to research, medical device development and intellectual property, outreach/dissemination of student research, and a research symposium. Through these activities Penn State CREATE will provide young researchers with new avenues of investigation, new technologies in quantitative and analytical methods, and new opportunities in novel diagnostic and interventional tools in medicine.