Cardiovascular Bioengineering Training Program

匹兹堡大学生物工程系（UPitt）正在寻求对 博士前培训计划（8个职位/年），旨在培养工程和 其他定量科学在心血管领域的生物医学研究事业。UPitt一直在 教育和研究在这一领域的最前沿，有两个关键组成部分有助于这一地位。 首先，我们已设立机制，让学生亲身接触实际的临床问题 需要生物工程输入用于其在各种医学学科内的解决方案（例如，心脏病学，心脏- 胸外科、血管外科、放射学）。第二，已经并将继续存在一个重大的 对这些研究和教育努力的机构承诺。拟议方案是 跨学科性质。虽然生物工程系是核心，但培训教师是 来自多个部门：生物医学信息学，化学工程，医学（心脏病学， 肺医学）、重症监护医学、药理学、外科学和矫形外科学。的 参与的教员是（生物）工程师，生理学家/生物学家，细胞和分子生物学家， 生物医学信息学专家、心脏病专家和肺病专家， 研究项目。该计划有三个重点领域：（1）基本理解和定量 天然（正常和病理条件）和扰动（即，人的部署， 制造的装置或结构）在不同组织水平（细胞、组织、整体）的心血管功能 （2）用于各种组织水平（细胞、组织、整个器官）的功能评估的成像， 和（3）人工装置和结构（机械的、组织工程的和 hybrid）。目前的建议包括明确强调生物医学创新和创业精神， 这与该计划教师进行的重要翻译研究一致， 实习生虽然大多数计划学员有（生物）工程背景，但有些来自其他国家。 学科（例如，生物学、物理学、化学、数学）。计划课程（10个教学课程和 几个讲习班）旨在提供工程和生物科学的广度和深度 还包括正式接触生物统计学，生物伦理学，专业和职业发展 问题.该计划的一个新颖的方面是，学生需要正式参加临床 临床实习和轮换（Clinical Internship and Rotation）因此，培训计划提供了一个独特的教育和 在基础和应用心血管工程和科学方面的研究经验。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。二十六 博士前学员参加了该计划在当前（第二）周期，我们相信， 受训者的表现和计划成果都很出色（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 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 in nature. Although the Department of Bioengineering forms the core, the training faculty is drawn from a number of departments: Biomedical Informatics, Chemical Engineering, Medicine (Cardiology, Pulmonary Medicine), Critical Care Medicine, Pharmacology, Surgery, and Orthopaedic Surgery. The participating faculty members are (bio)engineers, physiologists/biophysicists, cell & molecular biologists, biomedical informatics specialists, cardiologists, 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 (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). The current proposal includes an explicit 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 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. 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. Twenty six predoctoral trainees have participated in the program during the current (second) cycle and we believe that the trainee performance and program outcomes have been outstanding (see Progress Report).