The IME provides appropriate interdisciplinary education and research training at the postdoctoral, graduate student, medical student and undergraduate level. While much of this is acocomplished through existing departmental and graduate group structures, several revised and new programs tailored specifically to biomedical engineering and biotechnology have been established by IME members this year. - two Master's degree programs and a new undergraduate course (outlined below). There are currently 91 graduate students, and 76 postdoctoral fellow and MD residents receiving training in members' laboratories. Valuable research experience for undergraduates is provided by summer and work-study internships.
Professional Master's Program in Biomedical Engineering
Professional Master's Program in Biomedical Engineering seeks to prepare students for careers in industry and in entrepreneurial life in the broad field of Biomedical Engineering. The program recogizes that there are outstanding students whose career goals involve the use of research outcomes in the creation of new medical devices and drugs. These individuals require an intellectual experience that strengthens their analytical and bioengineering skills while introducting them to business courses.
Students take a total of 10 courses in one year in three general categories. Bioengineering and Math courses can be concentrated in specific areas of interest such as Orthopaedic Bioengineering; Neuroengineering; Biomechanics and Injury; Medical Imaging or medical applications of Biotechnology.
The math courses best suited to each may include numerical methods, advanced engineering, math or statistics. Entrepreneurial courses were especially developed for this program and deal with case studies of fundamental technologies that have transferred to the marketplace, the business and regulatory process of taking an "idea" from the laboratory to the marketplace, and the development of a bio-tech business plan as a vehicle for start-up and funding of a new business venture. Electives strengthen the program according to the student's special interests. Projects are available with faculty members that are designed to enhance student experience. Now entering its second year, there are seven students enrolled in the program.
For more information, please contact Dr. Solomon R. Pollack, or visit the program'shome page
Masters of Biotechnology
In 1996, the University of Pennsylvania began to offer the Master of Biotechnology degree. This degree, offered jointly by the Schools of Engineering and Applied Science and Arts and Science integrates fundamental technologies in molecular biology and engineering to educate professionals for a career in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. The program emphasizes both core fundamental knowledge and practical applications, and provides flexibility for the student to concentrate on individual goals. It is strongly interdisciplinary, integrating biochemistry, cellular biology, bioprocess and biomedical engineering, and computer and information sciences.
The University of Pennsylvania is geographically and intellectually well suited for this program. The Philadelphia area has the highest concentration of pharmaceutical companies and the third largest concentration of biotechnology companies. Penn is intellectually strong in biotechnology, which means students will receive first-rate training.
The degree is structured on three tracks - Basic, with an emphasis in molecular biology; Engineering, with an emphasis in bioprocess and analytical biotechnology; and Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, with an emphasis in using computational technology to harvest, retrieve and analyze biological information. The degree requires 11 credits of courses, and can be completed in three semesters. Credits may be transferred from other institutions. Part-time study is available.
For more information, please contact Daniel A. Hammer, Ph.D., or visit the program'shome page.
Training Programs in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
The Center for Bioinformatics is the focal point for training programs at Penn in computational biology and bioinformatics. Starting in the 1997-98 academic year, Penn began offering a full range of academic programs in these areas from the undergraduate level through post doctoral studies. Center Co-Director Dr. Susan Davidson (CIS Dept, SEAS) and Center Educational Director Dr. Warren Ewens (Biology Dept, SAS) either administer or advise in each of these programs.
At the undergraduate level, SAS and SEAS have sister degrees in computational biology that draw students from either the biology or computer science tracks and cross-train them in both disciplines. The Master's degree program in bioinformatics is one part of a larger MS program in biotechnology which is again jointly administrated through Arts and Sciences and Engineering and Applied Sciences. This program is aimed at students seeking careers in industry. Doctoral and post-doctoral students are supported through a National Science Foundation Research Training Grant in computational biology.
Computational biology and bioinformatics are heavily interdisciplinary. Students enter with a variety of interests or backgrounds in the biological sciences, computer science and mathematics among others. The training programs provide core and specialized courses that cover the fundamentals but because of the diversity in studentsą backgrounds, tailors the programs to their individual needs. Center facilities provide students with the opportunity to pursue their doctoral and post-doctoral work, or senior or Master degree projects in a dynamic, state-of-the-art facility with diverse opportunities.
For more information, please contact Dr. Susan Davidson at 215-898-8560 or Dr. Warren Ewens at 215-898-7109.
Biomechanical Engineering
A new set of research efforts in Biomechanical Engineering is now being complemented by a collection of educational initiatives ranging from new courses at all levels to Community Outreach. A common theme of the various educational efforts is to introduce and integrate quantitative and mechanistic ideas into the mindset students have about "mechanical" phenomena at the cell and molecular levels‹a focal point for much of biomedical research today. How, for instance, should one think about macromolecular structures physically responding to force. Such questions are of importance to a number of "hot" areas such as cell adhesion and intracellular response to stresses, including gravitational stresses. Training students to think rigorously at this level, to make simple calculations and perform basic tasks in biomolecular engineering is the goal, a goal that fits well with the explosion of molecular information at the genome level and the new opportunities this provides for understanding structure and function.
For more information, please contact Dennis E. Discher, Ph.D.or visit the courseweb site.
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A New Course in Biological Physics
Philip Nelson, Ph.D., Professor of Physics and member of the IME, is the head of a unique new course in Biological Physics. The course will survey basic biological proceses at all levels of organization (molecule, cell, organism, population) in the light of simple ideas from physics. Both the most ancient and the most modern physics ideas can help explain emergent aspects of life, i.e. those which are largely independent of specific details and cut across many different classesof organisms. Topics may include thermal physics, entropic forces, free energy transduction, the structure of biopolymers, molecular motors, nerve impulses and neural computing, populations and evolution, and the origins of life of Earth and elsewhere.
For more information, please contactDr. Philip Nelsonor visit the courseweb site.
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