ABSTRACT
The Bioengineering Cardiovascular Training Grant (BCTG) program provides Bioengineering training for six NIH
supported and one Bioengineering department supported PhD students committed to careers in cardiovascular
research. Cardiovascular (CV) diseases are the leading cause of mortality in the US and progress in this area
will require training outstanding scientists with a variety of backgrounds in bioengineering to develop new and
innovative approaches for study, diagnosis and treatment of CV disease. The UW and Department of
Bioengineering have been leaders in CV research and technology development for over 50 years. BCTG faculty
in multiple departments in the College of Engineering and School of Medicine have strong collaborative programs
in this area. Our program benefits the public by training professionals in basic science and translational research
that integrates engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physiology, physics and computational skills to promote
fundamental discoveries and develop new technologies. Students gain interdisciplinary skills and the value of
collaboration. The program emphasizes new technology development in diagnostics and therapeutics to study
and treat CV pathologies, improving early detection and disease management, to improve quality of life for heart
failure patients. We believe that the success of translational research requires highly trained scientists to be
placed in both academia and industry, with skills to successfully transition research from universities to
commercialization and the clinic. For this renewal proposal we have added several novel components to provide
training in research and professional skills that spans the biomedical pipeline from discovery & mechanistic
studies to translational research to commercialization or clinical development. The 2-year program involves 1)
research in the laboratory of a chosen mentor, 2) a unique curriculum with opportunities for training in clinical
translation and commercialization, and 3) clinical preceptorships that are unique to our program. Trainees attend
a weekly seminar series focused on CV research, with an associated journal club and special sessions with
speakers that are limited to trainees. Trainees also attend lectures and discussion groups in the Biomedical
Research Integrity summer program, sponsored by the School of Medicine. Additional new components include
outreach and research mentoring to under-represented groups to increase the diversity of the workforce in STEM
fields, and a course that provides resources and seminars for professional skills development and training in
research reproducibility, rigor and transparency. Trainees are selected based on strong quantitative and
engineering backgrounds, training environment of faculty mentors, appropriateness of the research to our
programmatic focus and the potential for innovative, collaborative and translational research. Trainees present
at yearly symposiums and national meetings, and write a yearly progress report that includes feedback questions
to continually improve our program. Trainees are required to apply for fellowships at the end of the two-year
training period to begin establishing a record of successful competition in gaining research support.