Program of Study The Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program is a full-time program offering an MS, a PhD or an MS en route to a PhD degree in the following areas: Tissue Engineering and Biomechanics, Bioinformatics, Medical Imaging, and Bionanotechnology. It is not necessary to have an MS degree to apply for the PhD degree. Tissue Engineering Biomedical engineers in the field of tissue engineering interact with clinicians, biologists, and material scientists to repair or replace tissues and organs by delivering implanted cells, scaffolds, DNA, proteins, and/or protein fragments at surgery. Tissue engineers at UC mix cells and scaffolds in culture to more effectively repair and replace injured tendon, skin, and meniscal cartilage, and to deliver pancreatic islet cells. They also provide mechanical and chemical stimulation in culture to accelerate tendon repair. Biomechanics Biomedical engineers in the biomechanics field study the effects of forces and deformations on biological tissues and structures and seek to learn how altered mechanical forces in vivo influence tissue adaptation. Biomechanists at UC are studying the biomechanics of normal orthopedic tissues in the knee and shoulder and the alterations in biomechanical properties after repair and reconstruction. Medical Imaging Biomedical engineers in the medical imaging field work closely with physicians, physicists, and computer scientists to devise ever more sensitive methods for visualizing diseases of the brain and other vital organs. Faculty members at UC and at CHMC are concentrating in medical ultrasound, imaging biological markers of disease, and functional MRI. Bioinformatics Biomedical engineers with computer science expertise collaborate with biologists, geneticists, chemists, and physicians to unravel the sequence of the human genome and the function of the proteins that are created by these genes. Experts in bioinformatics computationally model the role of genes, proteins, and neurons (using, for example neural networks) in both normal and disease states. Nanobiotechnology In this area Biomedical Engineers have expertise ranging from the development of nanoscale medical devices to the nanoscale investigations of biological processes. Research opportunities may range in fundamental studies of biological structures to applied medical device design and evaluation.