Cellular and Tissue Engineering Training Grant
Letter from the Director
Welcome to the Georgia Tech Training Program in Cellular and Tissue Engineering (CTEng) sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the NIH. The objective of this Biotechnology training program is to provide advanced and integrated training for predoctoral engineering students in cell and tissue engineering to develop future leaders for the biotechnology industries.
There are currently 21 Biotechnology Training Grant programs in the U.S. funded by the NIH with Georgia Tech’s program supporting 8 graduate students seeking Ph.D. engineering degrees.
Our trainees have diverse and strong backgrounds in biomedical, chemical, or mechanical engineering, mathematics, and the sciences. CTEng provides a comprehensive and integrated training program that comprises fundamental and interdisciplinary courses, multiple activities to promote interactions with training faculty and industry representatives, an industrial internship program and an Industrial Partners symposium. Also offered is a short course on Learn about Industry From the Experts (LIFE), a clinical seminar series, and a trainee journal club. Overall, our program provides an exciting and rewarding training environment and intellectual community for developing future leaders for the cell and tissue engineering industries.
Andrés J. García, Ph.D.
Director, CTEng
Woodruff Faculty Fellow
Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience
Georgia Institute of Technology
Learn more about Dr. García
About the Training Grant
This biotechnology training program is supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a part of the National Institutes of Health, through grant T32 GM08433.
Why CTEng?
Cell engineering and tissue engineering-based strategies are central to numerous fundamental analyses of biological systems as well as biomedical applications. The full-scale success of these approaches, in terms of a comprehensive understanding of underlying biological mechanisms and the realization of the creative potential of these regenerative medicine approaches, requires the integration of engineering and biology disciplines in order to model, analyze, and control these complex biological systems.
Engineers trained in this integrated fashion will provide unparalleled contributions to these fledging fields – not only by carrying out basic research to generate new knowledge, but by developing new technological platforms to exploit advances coming out of the biological revolution. Our CTEng training program has been designed to educate such an individual and develop leaders for these emerging biotechnology industries.
Objective
The objective of the CTEng program is to provide advanced and integrated training for predoctoral engineering students in cell and tissue engineering to develop future leaders for the biotechnology industries.
Goal
The goal of this program is to train tomorrow’s leaders in the subject area of cellular and tissue engineering.
What is Cellular engineering?
The integration of engineering principles and methods with cell and molecular biology approaches to solve basic and applied problems in biology and medicine.
Examples: recombinant DNA technology for the production of biopharmaceutics; experimental and theoretical analyses of cellular processes, including adhesion, signaling networks, and differentiation; physicochemical methods for drug/gene/protein delivery; cellular biomechanics and mechanotransduction; engineering of cell function; cell-machine interfaces.
What is Tissue Engineering?
The combination of cells, scaffolds/matrices, and biochemical factors to develop biological substitutes that restore, maintain, or improve tissue function.
Examples: biomimetic materials that promote tissue healing; delivery of stem cells in appropriate matrices to restore biofunctionality; natural and synthetic constructs to restore tissue or organ function, such as bioengineered pancreas and liver; living replacements for small caliber vascular grafts and joint articulating surfaces; in vitro surrogate models to study complex in vivo systems.