Cellular Approaches to Tissue Engineering and Regeneration

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The University of Pittsburgh seeks continued support for multidisciplinary and innovative pre-doctoral training in Regenerative Medicine via the Cellular Approaches to Tissue Engineering & Regeneration (CATER) training program. The CATER program combines faculty and research expertise from an eclectic group of disciplines that combine tissue engineering with molecular and cellular approaches of therapies for human disease and regeneration. Regenerative medicine is truly a multidisciplinary field that brings together scientists from human biology, engineering, medical devices, material sciences, development, pathology, systems biology and applied technologies to focus on the repair and replacement of human tissues to restore form and function. A significant challenge in regenerative medicine is developing the next generation of experts with intellectual grasp of these diverse disciplines. This was the impetus behind the inception of the CATER program, which enabled cross-disciplinary training transcending the more traditional departmentally-focused research training programs. The CATER pre-doctoral training program embraces this multidisciplinary collaborative sentiment for research and education in regenerative medicine, abolishing silos within disciplines and remains the hallmark of the CATER program. The students matriculate into CATER program from the Bioengineering Graduate program in the School of Engineering or Interdisciplinary Biomedical Graduate program from the School of Medicine usually in their 2nd year based on successful nomination and evaluation for academic excellence and research in regenerative medicine. While CATER trainees are funded for the next 2 years as they accomplish coursework, develop research projects and become part of a robust, interactive and collaborative community, they remain part of CATER activities until their thesis defense and beyond. The goal of the CATER training program is to provide a solid foundation upon which to build a productive and independent career in regenerative medicine for human disease and injury. This goal is accomplished via a highly coordinated and mentored interdisciplinary training program, which combines required and elective courses, research and specialized training opportunities, including internships and professional development activities. Having been funded for 15 years, the CATER program continues to provide what we believe is timely, innovative and outstanding training in all key areas critical for success in regenerative medicine. CATER trainees have successfully established research programs in academia or industry, joined industry or government in regulatory domain, and have even gone on to more diverse professions like intellectual property law and FBI. We are confident that our program will continue to ‘cater’ to the evolving needs of our trainees and toward the advancing definition and depth of regenerative medicine as a discipline. We request continued support of NIBIB for 6 training slots to continue training our next generation of scientists practicing regenerative medicine, through coordinated, interdisciplinary and rigorous didactics; research; and professional training, via the CATER program.