{"id":4733,"date":"2019-05-03T15:42:32","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T19:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qa.vet.purdue.edu\/news\/?p=4733"},"modified":"2024-11-21T11:23:06","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T16:23:06","slug":"bms-interdisciplinary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/bms-interdisciplinary.php","title":{"rendered":"Linking Veterinary Medicine with Biomedical Engineering"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A doctoral program in biomedical sciences bridges two kindred disciplines <\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Dr.
Dr. Russell Main works with a graduate student in his laboratory.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A unique PhD program capitalizes on synergies\nand a long-standing history of collaboration between the Purdue University\nCollege of Veterinary Medicine and the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.  The Interdisciplinary\nBiomedical Sciences (IBSC) Program<\/a> is co-lead by Dr. Russell Main,\nassociate professor of basic medical sciences<\/a> in the College of Veterinary\nMedicine, who holds a joint appointment in the Weldon School, and Dr. Young\nKim, associate professor of biomedical engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IBSC Program serves as a medically-oriented program for scientists who wish to work in such areas as implantable medical devices, biomaterials, drug delivery strategies, diagnostic sensors, and especially engineered physiological systems (EPS) (e.g., organ-on-a-chip) and bioimaging technologies (BIT). The program emphasizes novel collaborative training opportunities for students by interfacing engineers, scientists, and clinicians in Purdue Veterinary Medicine and the Weldon School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"portrait
Dr. Russell Main<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A doctoral program spanning the two units makes organic sense because many of the biomedical devices, engineered tissues, and other research areas being explored at the Weldon School are prime for testing in small animals, according to Dr. Main. \u201cThe natural steppingstone is to go from development in a lab, to maybe a small rodent model, to a larger mammalian model, and then on to the human clinic,\u201d he explained. \u201cMaking the technical and animal health experience from the veterinary college available to the biomedical engineers just naturally leads to collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Kim agrees and suggests that the\nrelationship between the two institutions is symbiotic. For example, a project\nin his lab involving hemoglobin will produce outcomes potentially affecting\nboth humans and animals, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally created as the Biomedical Sciences\nDoctoral Track in 2004, the program was renamed in 2012.  Both Purdue Veterinary Medicine and the\nWeldon School develop and deliver financial and administrative support for the\nprogram. \u201cOur goal is for the program to serve as a bridge for the students between\nthe two units,\u201d Dr. Main said. \u201cIf you have a student working on a\ncollaboration for four or five years, it helps to develop a mutually beneficial\nresearch program and enriches the student\u2019s experience in both the applied and\nbasic sciences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The doctoral program prides itself on\nattracting students from diverse educational backgrounds, including the basic\nsciences, such as chemistry and biology. A recent graduate, Evan Phillips,\ncurrently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago,\ncame to the Purdue program with strengths in imaging techniques, which he enhanced\nas he researched aneurysms using rodent models. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Purdue Engineering faculty and students value the broad knowledge\nbase that the program\u2019s students bring to their labs. Likewise, the IBSC\nstudents\u2019 immersion in engineering labs exposes them to new experimental and\nanalytical approaches and a prevalent translational mindset, representing\ncross-pollination of ideologies and technical skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compared to most doctoral programs, the IBSC Program\nstands out for several reasons.  For one,\nthe linkage between Purdue Veterinary Medicine and the Weldon School is a major\nadvantage for students.  Secondly, it is\nopen to students from varied backgrounds, which fosters a stimulating exchange\nof ideas and expertise.  Thirdly, students\nare advised by co-mentors from both veterinary medicine and biomedical\nengineering, giving them access to the best minds from both worlds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"portrait
Dr. Young Kim<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe encourage the students to have one mentor from engineering and one from veterinary medicine, so they have a good understanding of both areas,\u201d Dr. Kim said. \u201cThe co-mentorship exposes students to the whole pipeline \u2013 innovating something at the bench, but also seeing, through discussions with clinicians and scientists, how it might lead to a clinical application,\u201d Dr. Main added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students\nare recruited into the program by a set of co-mentors and can share time in\ntheir mentors\u2019 labs, supporting development of their thesis research. \u201cIn this\nway, they can focus all of their energies on nurturing the collaborative bridge\nbetween the Weldon School and Purdue Veterinary Medicine, and on fulfilling\ntheir degree requirements, instead of spending time in other labs that may or\nmay not bear fruit,\u201d Dr. Main explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IBSC students also have a seminar requirement\nin both the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Weldon School, which gives\nthem a lot of exposure to a whole range of biomedical engineering\nsubdisciplines and clinical cases, Dr. Main said. The hope is that the students will make connections\nbetween the techniques they\u2019re learning in the biomedical engineering world and\nclinical cases to which they are exposed at the College of Veterinary Medicine.\nIBSC also plays a key role\nin furthering collaboration between the Purdue College of Engineering and\nIndiana University School of Medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Dr. Main and Dr. Kim took charge of the program in 2015, they have focused on increasing recruitment by spreading the word across campus and at national conferences. Their efforts have been paying off.  The number of new students enrolled in the IBSC Program has grown from only one or two students each year to as many as six students annually. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A unique PhD program capitalizes on synergies and a long-standing history of collaboration between the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine and the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4844,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,41,1054,29],"tags":[75,317,1123,1122,1121,532,196,883,1124],"class_list":["post-4733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-faculty-staff","category-graduate-student","category-our-people","tag-bms","tag-discovery","tag-doctoral-program","tag-ibsc","tag-interdisciplinary-biomedical-sciences-program","tag-russell-main","tag-spring","tag-weldon-school-of-biomedical-engineering","tag-young-kim"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4733"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25784,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4733\/revisions\/25784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}