Cardiovascular Bioengineering Training Program

描述(由申请人提供)： 匹兹堡大学(UOP)生物工程系正在为一项博士前培训计划寻求支持，该计划旨在为心血管领域的生物医学研究培养工程学和其他量化科学领域的有才华的学生。UOP一直走在这一领域的教育和研究的前沿，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到实际的临床问题，这些问题需要在不同的医学学科(如心脏病学、心胸外科、血管外科、放射学)中为他们的解决方案提供生物工程投入。其次，对这些研究和教育努力，机构一直并将继续做出重大承诺。拟议的方案是跨学科和跨部门的。虽然生物工程系构成了核心，但培训人员来自多个系：化学工程、细胞生物学和生理学、内科(心脏病)、重症监护医学、儿科(心脏病)、外科(心胸和血管)和放射科。参与的教员包括(生物)工程师、生理学家、生物物理学家、细胞和分子生物学家、成人和儿科心脏病专家、心胸外科医生和重症护理专家，他们拥有强有力的、资金充足的研究项目。该计划有三个重点领域：(1)对天然(正常和病理条件)和受扰(即，使用人造设备或结构)在不同组织水平(细胞、组织、整个器官)的心血管功能的基本理解和量化表征，(2)用于不同组织水平(细胞、组织、整个器官)功能评估的成像，以及(3)人工设备和结构的设计和优化(机械、组织工程和混合)。学生主要来自工程学校，尽管他们也可能来自生物、物理、化学和数学。课程安排(12门授课课程和几个工作坊)旨在提供工程学和生物科学的广度和深度，还包括对生物统计学、生物伦理学以及职业和职业发展问题的正式接触。该计划的一个新方面是，学生被要求正式参加临床体验(临床实习和轮换)。最后，每个学生都在培训学院的实验室接受广泛的研究培训。我们相信，拟议的项目在基础和应用心血管工程和科学方面提供了独特的教育和研究经验。(摘要结束)

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh (UoP) is seeking support for a pre-doctoral training program aimed at educating talented students from engineering and other quantitative sciences for careers in biomedical research in the cardiovascular area. UOP 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 actual clinical problems requiring bioengineering input for their solution within various medical disciplines (e.g., cardiology, cardio-thoracic surgery, vascular surgery, radiology). Second, there has been, and continues to be, a significant Institutional commitment to these research and educational endeavors. The proposed program is interdisciplinary and interdepartmental in nature. Although the Department of Bioengineering forms the core, the training faculty is drawn from a number of departments: Chemical Engineering, Cell Biology & Physiology, Medicine (Cardiology), Critical Care Medicine, Pediatrics (Cardiology), Surgery (Cardio-thoracic and Vascular), and Radiology. The participating faculty members are (bio)engineers, physiologists, biophysicist, cell and molecular biologists, adult and pediatric cardiologists, cardio-thoracic surgeons, and critical care specialists, 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 (cell, tissue, whole organ), (2) Imaging for functional assessment at various levels of organization (cell, tissue, whole organ), and (3) Design and optimization of artificial devices and constructs (mechanical, tissue-engineered, and hybrid). Students are drawn mainly from engineering schools, although they may also come from biology, physics, chemistry, and mathematics. Program coursework (12 didactic courses and several workshops) is designed to provide both breadth and depth in engineering and biological sciences and also includes a formal exposure to biostatistics, bioethics, and professional and career development issues. One novel aspect of the program is that students are required to formally participate in a clinical experience (Clinical Internship and Rotation). Finally, each student receives extensive research training in the laboratories of the training faculty. We believe the proposed program provides a unique educational and research experience with respect to basic and applied cardiovascular engineering and sciences. (END OF ABSTRACT)