The focus of the Training Program in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine is to provide doctoral students with advanced training in biomedical research with the ultimate goal of designing cell, tissue, and scaffold-based therapies. The didactic portion of the program provides an integrated, innovative and rigorous educational experience that has as its goal the repair or regeneration of human tissues and organs. Resources for the program come from a core of well-funded faculty in several departments or divisions at Thomas Jefferson University. We request support for three predoctoral students in the 01 year of the grant and four students in the 02-04 years;in the 05 year we ask for five slots. There are five program objectives: (1) to integrate contemporary advances in cell, molecular, and developmental biology towards understanding tissue function;(2) to relate fundamental advances in the life sciences to contemporary concepts in tissue engineering (3) to understand the pathogenesis of diseases that afflict the musculoskeletal system;(4) to foster practical understanding of the pathophysiology of diseases of the skeleton and the nature of clinical investigation through industrial and medical cross-training;(5) to build a pipeline of talented individuals for careers in musculoskeletal research. The didactic aspects of the training program are embedded in integrating developmental, cell and molecular biology;bioinformatics and functional genomics;tissue engineering and bioimaging;and translational medicine. So as to anchor the program in human disease, students meet with surgeons in the clinic and operating room to consider health problems that are amenable to treatment by Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. Development of translational research is furthered by collaboration with scientists at local pharmaceutical companies and laboratories. Against this background, students develop their dissertation research which provides the foundation for their future careers as independent, innovative scientific investigators. The focus of the training program in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine is to provide doctoral students with advanced training in biomedical research. As a result of their training, these students will generate new knowledge of the diseases that afflict the musculoskeletal system and provide strategies that will serve to ameliorate or prevent diseases that currently afflict a huge number of Americans.
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