The tissue engineering approach always requires an interdisciplinary blending of the material sciences, chemistry, biology, engineering, and medicine.  Thus, the key goal of this Training Program is to provide postgraduate trainees with an opportunity to enhance their scientific competency in three critically important research areas:

• Materials Design, Synthesis, and Optimization
• Analysis and Understanding of Cell-Materials Interactions
• Cell and stem cell biology
  

A second goal is to introduce trainees to powerful, new techniques of computational modeling and biomaterials informatics.  Computational modeling and informatics are research tools that increasingly permeate all aspects of science. Finally, to provide our trainees with a complete outlook on the entire spectrum of research and development, we have included a group of laboratories that specialize in translational research and the development of specific tissue engineering-based therapies.  These translational research opportunities offer interactions with industry and thus provide the trainees with experiences in technology transfer and collaborative research with industrial scientists.

THE CROSS DISCIPLINARY TRAINING EXPERIENCE

Includes:	Resulting in:
Two-year residency in a core-competency laboratory for PhDs One-year residency for MDs, DDSs	Formal seminar by trainee and Two peer-reviewed publications (for PhDs)
Rotation in a second core-competency laboratory	Formal seminar by trainee describing his/her achievements in the host laboratory and abstract for conference presentation; or joint publication with the host laboratory; or manuscript for journal submission
Clinical experience for PhD-trained postgraduates Lecture series on Tissue Engineering Implications in Surgery (Clinical exposure in each of Cardiothoracic, Orthopaedic, Plastic, and Vascular Surgery Surgical Grand Rounds
Professional development 1) Self-teaching or auditing of existing courses, as recommended by mentors and advisors 2) Workshops on responsible conduct of research and professional development Choose four: Medical Ethics – R Scientific Ethics – R Communications Skills Patent law Business Development Regulatory Affairs Research Funding 3) Seminars/Lectures in related departments and institutions Attendance in at least six seminars or lectures outside the training program, each year for a total of 12-24 hours over the two-year training period. 4) Leadership development through interaction with pre-doctoral students and technicians R = Required	Outcome presentations by all trainees based on their principal projects and their experiences in other laboratories, facilities and teams Seminar prepared by postgraduate trainee and junior scientists supervised Evaluation of the postgraduate trainee by his/her pre-doctoral and technician co-workers