IGERT: Building Leadership THrough a Program on Engineered Bioactive Interfaces and Devices - Supplement

This Integrative Graduate Education Research Training (IGERT) is a National Science Foundation sponsored program that addresses the need for a coherent interdisciplinary graduate education and research training program on Engineered Bioactive Interfaces and Devices. Engineered Bioactive Interfaces and Devices focuses on the novel design of architectures that interact with biological systems and promote a desired response. These advanced architectures have numerous applications ranging from tissue engineering to drug delivery and successful development of these systems will depend on expertise not only in developing novel synthetic architectures through nanotechnology, self-assembly and hybrid systems but also on the interactions of these interfaces with biological systems such as cells and proteins. Nearly all materials used today in biological applications are those that were originally designed for non-biological applications without any consideration for the interactions between the biological system and the synthetic interface. The need for more advanced bioactive interfaces and for specialty applications has grown and successful development of these architectures will require the integration of the biological sciences and engineering disciplines. This IGERT program addresses this need by educating and training the next generation of engineering and scientists working in this area. The student participants enhance their backgrounds in their primary disciplines and obtain a thorough, cross-disciplinary education at the interface of biological sciences and engineering using state-of-the-art instrumentation and methodologies. The multidisciplinary research along with other IGERT outreach will be the focus of this presentation.