About Our Program
Regenerative medicine is a rapidly growing field focused on restoring tissue structure and function following injury or disease. Prompted by conditions such as injury and infection or stress and aging, our cells constantly receive cues from internal and external sources that influence the course of development and disease. Research into the basic cellular and molecular changes associated with typical development and aging and distinguishing them from atypical disease and repair will lead to new, innovative strategies to improve animal and human health.
The field of regenerative medicine necessitates consideration of ethical and societal impacts alongside advances in biology and medicine. Swift translation from bench to bedside provokes a need to improve our understanding of the impacts on public policy and the economic feasibility of new technology.
The program aims to (1) unravel genetic and epigenetic factors linked to developmental and degenerative conditions using model organisms such as rodents, fish, flies, worms, and human stem cells; (2) explore the development and regenerative capacity of the musculoskeletal, central nervous system, and other organ systems to provide the tools necessary for devising novel therapeutics. This includes the use of microfluidics, focused ultrasound, and printable materials. Our program seeks to employ innovative approaches that develop a diverse understanding and training portfolio to prepare graduates for the many career paths upon completing the program.
The Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program in Regenerative Medicine is an innovative program that focuses on producing future leaders in academia, industry and regulatory oversight. Through a collaborative approach, the program seeks to solve complex research problems focused on promoting tissue regeneration following injury and disease while at the same time drawing attention to the societal impacts and entrepreneurship associated with newly emerging scientific discoveries in the field of regenerative medicine. The student and faculty community that embodies the RM IGEP represents varied disciplines that include stem cell biology, biomedical engineering, science and technology in society, business development, and many more. Students are exposed to collaborative research projects that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries and require teamwork in order to develop the tools that build leaders in the science, engineering, and business of the future.
Our graduate training program provides students the opportunity to conduct specialized research in the discipline of their choosing as it relates to emerging treatments in regenerative medicine and the societal impacts of moving our discoveries into clinical applications. The program integrates traditional didactic instruction, interdisciplinary coursework, student interaction, community development, and cross-disciplinary research experience, including ethics and professional development training. Key components of this program include:
- Interactive seminar series (focused on current and emerging trends in disease therapy, assisted devices, robotics, biomaterials for regenerative medicine)
- Unique interdisciplinary course: Regenerative Medicine: Science and Society
- Interdisciplinary research experience
- Team building activities to develop collaboration among participating academic units such as our recent retreat which was hugely successful and is slated as an annual event
- Campus-wide seminars that enrich the culture of collaborative research embodied at VT
By educating and collaborating across specialized fields of medicine, our IGEP imparts a thorough understanding of the cross-disciplinary approach and collaborative network needed to conduct transformative research, how to commercialize discoveries in regenerative medicine, and how to develop new strategies for integrating scientific discoveries into real world applications.
