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Problem Solving in Integrated Bioscience Interdisciplinary teams are developed to solve a complex bio-problem, and are mentored through the process by 1-2 faculty. These teams include biologists, engineers, chemists, mathematicians, computer scientists, etc. The composition of a team is determined by the makeup of the entering Ph.D. student pool, and a specific problem that was defined in the previous semester (Communicating in Integrated Bioscience) is pursued. In addition to the 1-2 facilitating faculty, additional faculty involvement with this course will be primarily in an advisory role, in that the students will be working in various laboratories needed to implement their ideas. The IB students learn how to study complex systems from an interdisciplinary/integrated prospective, and get hands-on experience with the successes and pitfalls of integrated bioscience research. The approaches they learn may/will be applied to their individual research projects, and can be used to satisfy the requirement of an Integrated Bioscience chapter in their dissertation. Examples of complex bio-problems are: design a computer program to model changes in oxygen concentrations through bio-membranes, or design a novel gene delivery mechanism for cell transformation. These are merely examples, and actual projects will be determined by student interest and team expertise.
By the end of this third core course, the students will have experienced a trial run of what their future likely holds in store for them: interactions with experts outside their own narrow discipline to confront bio-problems that require such an interdisciplinary approach.
Left & middle: TAXUS Express2 Paclitaxel-eluting coronary stent system; right: CYPHER Sirolimus-eluting coronary stent with sirolimus emitting inside an artery
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