Cardiovascular Bioengineering Training Program

匹兹堡大学(UPitt)生物工程系正在寻求继续支持 博士前培训计划(8个职位/年)，旨在培养工程和工程专业的有才华的学生 其他定量科学，用于心血管领域的生物医学研究。乌皮特一直在 这是该领域教育和研究的前沿，有两个关键因素促成了这一地位。 首先，我们建立了一个机制，让我们的学生直接接触临床问题，这些问题需要 在不同的医学学科中为他们的解决方案提供生物工程投入。第二，继续存在 机构对这些研究和教育努力的重大承诺。拟议的计划是 跨学科性质。虽然该计划设在生物工程系，但培训 教职员工来自几个系：麻醉学、生物工程、化学和机械 工程学、重症监护医学、发育生物学、医学、病理学、药理学和 手术。参与的教员包括(生物)工程师、生理学家/生物物理学家、细胞/分子。 和系统/合成生物学家、心脏病学家、病理学家和肺病学家，具有活力和良好的- 资助研究项目。本计划有三个重点领域：(1)基本认识和 原生的(正常的和病理的)和受干扰的(即 人工设备或构造的部署)不同组织级别的心血管功能 (分子到整个器官/生物体)，(2)用于不同水平的功能评估的成像 组织(分子到整个器官/生物体)，以及(3)人工设备的设计和优化 构建(机械的、组织工程的和混合的)。目前的提案包括额外的重点是 系统/合成生物学以及继续强调生物医学创新和创业， 与项目教职员工和实习生进行的重要翻译研究一致。 虽然大多数项目实习生都有(生物)工程背景，但也有一些来自其他学科 (例如，生物、物理、化学、数学)。课程作业(10个授课课程+工作坊)是 旨在提供工程和生物科学的广度和深度，并包括正式的 接触生物统计学、生物伦理学以及专业和职业发展问题。这是一个新的方面 该计划要求学生正式参加临床体验(临床实习和 旋转)。因此，培训方案提供了一种独特的教育和研究经验 基础和应用心血管工程和科学。最后，每个学生都得到了广泛的 在培训教员的实验室进行研究培训。已有31名博士后实习生参加 在当前资金周期(2017年9月1日至2022年6月30日)，我们认为 实习生的表现和项目成果一直很突出(见进度报告)。

The Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh (UPitt) is seeking continued support for a predoctoral training program (8 positions/year) aimed at educating talented students from engineering and other quantitative sciences for careers in biomedical research in the cardiovascular area. UPitt has been at the forefront of education and research in this field, with two key components contributing to this status. First, a mechanism is in place whereby our students are exposed first-hand to clinical problems requiring bioengineering input for their solution within various medical disciplines. Second, there continues to be a significant Institutional commitment to these research and educational endeavors. The proposed program is interdisciplinary in nature. Although the Program is housed in the Department of Bioengineering, the training faculty is drawn from several departments: Anesthesiology, Bioengineering, Chemical & Mechanical Engineering, Critical Care Medicine, Developmental Biology, Medicine, Pathology, Pharmacology, and Surgery. The participating faculty members are (bio)engineers, physiologists/biophysicists, cell/molecular and systems/synthetic biologists, cardiologists, pathologists, and pulmonologists, with vigorous and well- funded research programs. There are three focus areas of this Program: (1) Basic understanding and quantitative characterization of native (normal and pathological conditions) and perturbed (i.e., with deployment of man-made devices or constructs) cardiovascular function at various levels of organization (molecules-to-whole organ/organism), (2) Imaging for functional assessment at various levels of organization (molecules-to-whole organ/organism), and (3) Design and optimization of artificial devices and constructs (mechanical, tissue-engineered, and hybrid). The current proposal includes additional focus on systems/synthetic biology and a continued emphasis on biomedical innovation and entrepreneurship, which is consistent with the significant translational research performed by the Program faculty and trainees. Although most Program trainees have (bio)engineering background, some come from other disciplines (e.g., biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics). Program coursework (10 didactic courses + workshops) is designed to provide both breadth and depth in engineering and biological sciences and includes a formal exposure to biostatistics, bioethics, and professional and career development issues. A novel aspect of the Program is that students are required to formally participate in a clinical experience (Clinical Internship and Rotation). Thus, the training program provides a unique educational and research experience with respect to basic and applied cardiovascular engineering and sciences. Finally, each student receives extensive research training in the laboratories of the training faculty. Thirty-one predoctoral trainees have participated in the Program during the current funding cycle (September 1, 2017 – June 30, 2022) and we believe that the trainee performance and program outcomes have been outstanding (see Progress Report).