Elective Courses

This course is an introduction to the field of Tissue Engineering.  It is rapidly emerging as a therapeutic approach to treating damaged or diseased tissues in the biotechnology industry. In essence, new and functional living tissue can be fabricated using living cells combined with a scaffolding material to guide tissue development.  Such scaffolds can be synthetic, natural, or a combination of both.  This course will cover the advances in the field of cell biology, molecular biology, material science and their relationship towards developing novel 'tissue engineered' materials.

This advanced course coves the mechanism and biological role of signal transduction in mammalian cells.  Topics included are exracellular regulatory signals, intercellular signal transduction pathways, role of tissue context in the function of cellular regulation, and example of biological processes controlled by specific cellular signal transduction pathways.  

Descriptions of various polymer processing operations and processing requirements of biomedical products, principles of processing of polymers covering melting, pressurization, mixing, devolatilization, shaping using extrusion, spinning, blowing, coating, calendering and molding technologies, surface treatment and sterilization, applications in the areas of prostheses and artificial organs and packaging of various biomedical devices.

Intended as an introduction for the student who is familiar with materials science, this course first reviews the properties of materials that are relevant to their application in the human body. It then introduces proteins, cells, tissues, and their reactions to foreign materials, and the degradation of these materials in the human body. The course then treats the various implants, burn dressings, drug delivery systems, biosensors, artificial organs, and elements of tissue engineering.

This course provides an overview and industrial perspectives regarding downstream separation in drug substance development and manufacturing. Basic principles and practical applications of unit operations most commonly employed in the pharmaceutical industry will be discussed, including extraction, absorption, membrane, distillation, crystallization, filtration, and drying. Examples will be discussed to illustrate the intrinsic relationship between process development, equipment selection, and scale-up success.

Lectures, demonstrations, and laboratory experiments, selected from among the following topics, depending on student interest: vacuum technology; thin-film preparation; scanning electron microscopy; infrared spectroscopy and ellipsometry; electron spectroscopy; Auger, photoelectron, and LEED; ion spectroscopies; SIMS, IBS, and field emission; surface properties-area, roughness, and surface tension.

This course will provide a comprehensive introduction to the rapidly developing field of nanomedicine and discuss the application of nanoscience and nanotechnology in medicine such as, in diagnosis, imaging and therapy, surgery, and drug delivery.

A survey course covering the chemical, biological and material science aspects of interfacial phenomena. Applications to adhesion, biomembranes, colloidal stability, detergency, lubrication, coatings, fibers and powders - where surface properties play an important role.

This course describes the application of nano- and micro-fabrication methods to build tools for exploring the mysteries of biological systems. It is a graduate-level course that will cover the basics of biology and the principles and practice of nano- and microfabrication techniques, with a focus on applications in biomedical and biological research.

This advanced course covers the mechanism and biological role of signal transduction in mammalian cells. Topics included are extracellular regulatory signals, intracellular signal transduction pathways, role of tissue context in the function of cellular regulation, and examples of biological processes controlled by specific cellular signal transduction pathways.

This course introduces the fundamental principles of mechanics applied to the study of biological systems and relates the design of implants and prosthetics to the biomechanics of the musculoskeletal system. Specific types of tissue covered include bone, ligament, skeletal and cardiac muscle, and articular cartilage. An introduction to the basic concepts of continuum mechanics is provided, including finite-deformation kinematics, stress, constitutive equations, and the governing conservation laws of mass, momentum, and energy applied to deformable continua. Rigid-body kinematics is introduced in the context of applications in biomechanics.

Bringing together the creative talents of electrical, mechanical, optical and chemical engineers, materials specialists, clinical-laboratory scientists, and physicians, the science of biomedical microelectromechanical systems (Bio MEMS) promises to deliver sensitive, selective, fast, low cost, less invasive, and more robust methods for diagnostics, individualized treatment, and novel drug delivery. The goals of this course are to introduce microfabrication, microfluidics, sensors, actuators, drug delivery systems, micro total analysis systems and lab-on-a-chip devices, detection and measurement systems. The main focus is on the fundamental challenges and limitations involved in designing and demonstrating BioMEMS devices.