2009 Program

Over a period of nine weeks, from May 27 to July 24, 2009, these unique interdisciplinary programs will integrate education and research in the fields of biomaterials and medical device design from concept to clinical application. The programs offer a didactic experience in basic principles necessary to understand medical device development, clinical application, and failure assessment. Students will apply these principles in state-of-the-art research projects.

BBSI Participants

BBSI has provided students majoring in the biological sciences, computer sciences, engineering, mathematics, and physical sciences with well planned interdisciplinary bioengineering or bioinformatics research and education experiences.

NASA-REU Participants

REU stands for: Research Experience for Undergraduates. Therefore, this program is targeted only to undergraute students. The SSBR program is open to all science and engineering majors, including bioengineering/biomedical engineering majors. To be eligible students must be enrolled in a South Carolina institution or be residents of the state of South Carolina.

Participant Benefits:

• $3,300 stipend for the program period
• On-campus housing available upon request; cost covered by participant
• $300/week stipend for undergraduates
• Travel support (mileage reimbursement)

The Specific Goals of this Training Program are to:

• Introduce students to the common types of materials and implanted devices used in medicine
• Acquaint students with key fundamental principles of chemistry, physics, and biology, as well as engineering and processing parameters which predetermine the performance of biomedical devices
• Present an analysis of common features as well as differences between materials used for the production of medical devices
• Illustrate how typical biomaterials are processed to useful constructs and evaluated to predict and/or determine their performance in different biological environments (case studies depicting the interactions between implants and different biological environments will be presented)
• Understand the clinical needs and limitations that stimulate the medical device industry, Train students to adequately use basic technical and experimental protocols commonly performed in biomaterials research
• Provide students with an understanding of research principles at the foundation of state-of-the-art biomaterials research
• Increase the awareness of students about challenges and opportunities to be encountered by the biomaterials industry in the 21st century
• Prepare and motivate students to successfully complete graduate programs in bioengineering, and enter the bioengineering profession

Program Activities:

• Students participate in an intensive education program consisting of workshops designed to bridge engineering, biology, and clinical sciences
• Participants will conduct hands-on laboratory research related to NASA missions and other areas of bioengineering
• Students attend the weekly Institute Colloquium, a professional development lecture series highlighting internationally known researchers in the field of biomaterials
• Students participate in weekly hands-on Mini-Workshops focusing on experimental techniques used in biomaterials research
• Communications skills are fostered through weekly research presentations given by the students, and a final research symposium which highlights the research conducted by the students
• Courses are team taught by expert faculty. Technical workshops are conducted by staff and technical personnel at Clemson University who commonly participate in biomaterials research and supervise the research facilities involved
• Professional development and entrepreneurship lectures are provided by representatives from leading implant device manufacturers, and other professional experts in this field

Mentoring and Research Themes:

• Each student is paired with a mentoring team before the beginning of the summer program.
• Each student is advised by two faculty members: a bioengineering faculty and a faculty from life and applied sciences or clinical sciences.
• The other members of the mentoring team are a research associate or post-doctoral fellow from the laboratory hosting the student, and a senior doctoral candidate.
• All projects integrate biology, physical sciences, and engineering.
• Selection of the projects is conducted before the beginning of the program.
• Mentoring teams will contact and prepare the students before the beginning of the summer program.

Research mentoring is provided by the following research programs at Clemson University:

• Osteoporosis Biomechanics Laboratory
• Cell Mechanics and Mechanobiology Laboratory
• Laboratory of Vascular Research
• Cardiovascular Implant Research Laboratory
• Tissue Engineering Laboratory
• Laboratory of Polymeric Bearing Modeling
• Nanoscale Biointerfaces Laboratory
• Laboratory of Biomedical Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy
• Genetics and Breast cancer

Faculty Mentors:

• Martine LaBerge, Professor and Chair of Bioengineering
• Jiro Nagatomi, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering
• Agneta Simionescu, Research Assistant Professor
• Marian Kennedy, Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
• Naren Vyavahare, Hunter Endowed Professor of Bioengineering
• Kerry Smith, Assistant Professor of Genetics and Biochemistry
• Bruce Gao, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering
• Alexey Vertegel, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering
• Delphine Dean, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering
• Richard Figliola, Professor of Mechanical Engineering
• Dan Simionescu, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering
• Ted Bateman, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering