CBME Undergraduate Program
The objective of CBME’s Undergraduate Program is to provide broad-based, integrated training to undergraduate students on the development of biomedical engineering devices and methodologies. Initially, the program comprises new course offerings at UNM related to biomolecular engineering, materials science, biomaterials, microfluidics, nanofluidics and biosensors. For example, the new course “Biosensors: Fundamentals and Applications” begins with a short introduction to fundamentals of biosensors such as enzymes and substrate conversion, biorecognition and immobilization of the biological components in biosensors. The course then covers the areas of biosensors as analytical devices and biosensor technology in the context of industrial development and the fulfillment market-driven needs. This courses is taught under the auspices of a joint NCI- and NSF-funded Integrated Graduate Education Research Traineeship (IGERT) program at UNM, Cross Disciplinary Nanoscience and Microsystems.
CBME is engaged in broad outreach in the area of biomaterials and bioanalytical technologies. We combine the forces of medical science, engineering, and technology development to confront urgent problems such as point of care diagnostics. We believe the application of scientific knowledge to urgent human needs and problems is relevant, important and exciting. A series of educational and outreach activities contributes to developing this understanding at all age levels. One example of this is our NIH-funded Initiative to Maximize Student Diversity (IMSD) program at UNM. The long-term goal of the UNM-IMSD program is to increase the numbers of competitive, under-represented minority students entering careers in biomedical research by enhancing undergraduate research, facilitating the transition to graduate school, thus increasing the number of successful, minority Ph.D. students. It provides undergraduate students with significant research opportunities which prepare them for graduate school and help them understand the range of possibilities in biomedical research, and offers support to them as graduate students for up to the first 2 years of graduate school. IMSD students perform research in one of 48 laboratories across 14 participating departments, including the Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Pathology, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Epidemiology, Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, and more. Students attend one national conference per year, and are encouraged to spend one summer in an REU program at another institution to broaden their research experience.
A second example is the NSF-funded UNM-Harvard Partnership for Research and Education in Materials (PREM): Leadership in Biomaterials. The PREM program focuses on engagement of members of under-represented groups in the performance of biomaterials research at all educational levels. It is also engaged in the development of new educational approaches to increase awareness of the importance of biomaterials technology to minority communities. While the PREM is focused on biomaterials science and research, many of the biomaterials systems in question are applicable to bioanalytical technologies, including low cost point-of-care bioassays and extending to host/pathogen interactions and high-throughput genomic sequencing.
A significant part of the PREM and general CBME outreach activities is classroom visits meant to spark interest in science and engineering activities and careers. Simple kits (e.g., artificial body parts, fluidic emulsion systems, simple immuno-chromatographic assays) have been developed for use during these visits. UNM has found that participation of groups (e.g., a professor with a graduate student and an undergraduate student) is especially effective in such visits. These activities are heavily oversubscribed, and are therefore meeting important needs in the community and in New Mexico high schools.