Bridging the Gap – From Undergraduate BME Design to Translational Research Willis Tompkins Department of Biomedical Engineering University of Wisconsin-Madison

UW Biomedical Engineering emphasizes design Design course is required every semester beginning the first semester sophomore year (6 sequential courses) Students do client-based design projects in teams Projects are real-world biomedical engineering design problems, solicited primarily from clinical and life sciences faculty and from industry

Translational research initiative W.H. Coulter Translational Research Partnership in Biomedical Engineering –UW one of nine U.S. universities with this grant –Goal to foster collaborations between BME faculty and practicing physicians to deliver advances more quickly to patients –Currently funding seven bench-to-bedside projects

Connecting undergraduate design to translational research Undergraduate BME Design Coulter Translational Research ? Tong Biomedical Engineering Student Design Awards

Gift to the BME Department by the Tong Family Foundation –Goal to emphasize prototype development and entrepreneurship among BME undergraduates –First activities supported in Spring 2007

Tong Supported Events in 2007 Biomedical Engineering Student Design Expo –Public poster session (32 team projects) –Prototypes evaluated by six external judges Awards given for best sophomore, junior, and senior prototypes at a ceremony attended by all BME majors Follow-on financial support based on submitted proposals given to two teams for further development during summer Lecture presentation to all BME majors by local entrepreneur

Why Emphasize Awards for Prototypes? Peter Tong: “A prototype is probably one of the most essential tools for engineers to validate whether what they have in mind is practical. Particularly for entrepreneurs, who are going to raise capital to do what will fulfill their dreams, if they have a feasible model, or a good prototype, they probably will have a higher chance of raising the capital they need.”

Overall goals of the Tong Biomedical Engineering Student Design Awards Stimulate an interest among BME undergraduate students in entrepreneurship through competition and exposure to entrepreneurs Provide a competitive environment with awards for best practice in developing prototypes Provide a competitive opportunity for teams to receive funding for summer salary and other expenses to further research, develop and protect the team’s design in collaboration with a biomedical engineering faculty member Link potentially successful bench-to-beside projects to our Coulter Translational Research funding opportunity