Vision and Goals of Cellular Approaches to Tissue Engineering and Regeneration Program (CATER)
TThe goal of the CATER training program is to provide a solid foundation upon which to build a productive independent career in cellular and tissue based therapy for human disease and injury. This goal is accomplished via a highly coordinated and mentored interdisciplinary training program with a combination of required and elective courses, research activities, and specialized training opportunities. The Training Program incorporates faculty from the School of Engineering, the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and the School of Medicine to provide a unique educational and research experience at the leading edge of science with respect to cellular / tissue regeneration and engineering. This combination of training faculty research interests and coursework provide a rich educational experience and more numerous training opportunities for the students than could be obtained within the individual university departments.
As described in greater detail below, students enter the CATER training program typically at the start of the second year of graduate school. At this point the student will have passed the first year core requirements from either the School of Medicine Interdisciplinary Graduate Training Program (INTBP) or Bioengineering programs and selected a laboratory and mentor for their thesis project. Since CATER training faculty reside in multiple departments within the university and school of medicine, and the CATER program is not central to any one department, this permits the student a much wider choice of options with which to pursue a PhD in regenerative medicine. In the current departmental focus of graduate education, a PhD student in the Bioengineering department that wishes to perform thesis research in a laboratory in the Pathology department finds many departmental based administrative roadblocks in his/her path. The CATER program eliminates these roadblocks and permits ever increasing educational options for the students and research collaborations. It should be noted that as long as a student follows the program they can request that a mentor outside the current training faculty to join the CATER training faculty.
CATER Trainee Nomination Form (pdf format) (Word format)
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