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Towards an International Tissue Engineering Curriculum: The Drexel Initiative

Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.*°, Mohamed Attawia, M.D. , Dhirendra Katti, Ph.D.*, Yusuf Khan, M.S. *, Michele Marcolongo, Ph.D. +, Frank Ko, Ph.D.+, Wei Sun, Ph.D.† *Department of Chemical Engineering/ +Department of Materials Engineering/ † Department of Mechanical Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA

Abstract

As many as twenty million patients per year suffer from various organ and tissue related maladies including burns, skin ulcers, diabetes, bone, cartilage, and connective tissue defects and diseases. The financial cost to care for these patients has been estimated at as much as $400 billion annually. Tissue engineering has emerged within the past 10 years as one possible solution to the current state of organ and tissue damage seen in Americans. However several limitations to its success still exist. Toward this issue and the emerging interest of Tissue Engineering in general, an undergraduate/graduate curriculum has been developed that embraces the strengths of relevant disciplines from both the sciences and Engineering to train future engineers to tackle the interdisciplinary issues surrounding the regeneration and repair of tissues. Centered around a three-year structure, the curriculum is initially designed to provide an area of concentration for upper-class undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in Biomedical Science and Biomedical Engineering, but in the future could expand to encompass a full degree-awarding curriculum. In addition to class-based instruction, web-based and inter- collegiate courses are suggested.

Introduction

Each year many Americans experience organ and tissue damage from birth defects, disease, and accidents. As many as twenty million patients per year suffer from various organ and tissue related maladies including burns, skin ulcers, diabetes, bone, cartilage, and connective tissue defects and diseases1. The financial cost to care for these patients has been estimated at as much as $400 billion annually2. Although there has been considerable success with organ transplants, there is the ongoing problem of biocompatibility between donor and host, and the body's natural rejection of foreign tissue 3. There is also a tremendous shortage of organs with as many as 50,000 people on transplant waiting lists in the United States1. There has been limited success with autografts. However the donor tissue is not always available or biologically appropriate for the new application, as in the case of using the saphenous vein to perform a coronary bypass 4. There is no problem with host rejection, but the compliance and musculature of a vein are not an ideal replacement for a coronary artery. Considering the above necessity for and limitations of conventional organ replacement schemes, a solution is necessary.

° To whom correspondence should be addressed

Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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Khan, Y., & Sun, W., & Attawia, M., & Marcolongo, M., & Ko, F., & Katti, D., & Laurencin, C. (2002, June), Towards An International Tissue Engineering Curriculum: The Drexel Initiative Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10992