Spring 2010 Offerings

Reminder

The MS Degree requirements include a total of 9 credits of GRAD 5950. It is best to take 3 credit hours each semester until the degree requirements are met.

The Ph.D. Degree requirements include a total of 15 credits of GRAD 6950. It is best to take 3 credit hours each semester until the degree requirements are met.

BME 5099 Courses (Independent Study) are listed under Peoplesoft. If a faculty name does not appear, please inform Dr. Peterson at peterson@engr.uconn.edu.

Course Descriptions
Course descriptions are provided here for only those courses with a temporary course number such as BME 6086-XX. Undergraduate and Graduate course descriptions are provided at the BME website under either the BS Degree Program Description or the Graduate Program Handbook.

BME 6086-001 Mechanics of Molecules & Cells
The interplay between molecules, cells, and their viscous surrounding are important in determining physical behavior at the micro- and nano- scales.  Mechanics at the micro- and nano-scales can be different from mechanics at the macroscale. Therefore, quantitative engineering, chemical and physical principles will be applied to understand the molecular mechanics associated with the function of these molecules.  Particular emphasis will be placed on understanding the molecular mechanical behavior of proteins that form the cytoskeleton and proteins that act as motors. Scale-dependent mechanical behavior will be studied as it applies to understanding cellular mechanics.

BME 6086-002 Drug Delivery
This course includes two main issues: 1) physiological barriers and drug transport; 2) design and characterization of drug delivery systems. The first section of this course introduces the mechanisms of drug delivery at the levels of cell, tissue and whole body from the viewpoint of engineering. The second one describes the rational design of various drug delivery systems and emphasizes biomolecular nanomedicines. Case studies of cancer therapy and tissue engineering are described to illustrate the functions of drug delivery systems. The specific topics include:
1. Delivery barriers at the level of nucleus and cell;
2. Delivery barriers at the level of tissue;
3. Delivery barriers at the level of whole body (pharmacokinetics);
4. Preparation/characterization of polymeric delivery systems for local delivery;
5. Preparation/characterization of nanomedicines for systemic delivery.

BME 6086-003 Systems Neuroscience
This course is a part of the core series in the Neuroscience graduate program and is cross-listed as a BME course. The course addresses the functional organization of neural systems underlying sensation, movement, language, learning/plasticity, and emotion/arousal. Sensory systems include the somatosensory, auditory, visual, vestibular, and chemosensory systems. Motor systems include the spinal cord, brain stem, cerebellum, vestibular system, oculomotor system, basal ganglia and cerebral cortex.
            For BME 6083-003, there will be extra reading and discussion of journal articles. This will form the basis of the extra one credit.

BME 6086-004 Mammalian Neuroanatomy
This is an introductory course on the brain and spinal cord suitable for both new and advanced students of Neuroscience. We will view and discuss the cellular structure and function of major regions in the brain and spinal cord. Our focus on the cell biology and organization of each region, and this complements the study of physiological systems in Systems Neuroscience. Advanced students will be able to apply their knowledge of cell/molecular and systems neurobiology to understanding how brain function and structure differs from region to region. Students will explore the entire central nervous system in the human and rat in informal, small-group sessions. Lectures, readings, and discussions will address the cellular organization of the nervous system. Activities will include analysis of the human and rodent gross spinal cord and gross brain and a detailed analysis of human and rodent brains in histological sections. Supplemental materials include human magnetic resonance images (MRI), human computerized axial tomography (CAT) scans, and immunohistochemical stains of animal nervous system to demonstrate the localization of molecules. Students will receive grades for a mid-term exam and a final exam. The BME course includes a term paper.

BME 6086-005 Digital Image Processing
Recommended to students interested in Signal and Image Processing, Imaging Systems, Biomedical Imaging Systems, and Optics.
Course outline and topics to be covered:

• Problems and applications in digital image processing
• Two-dimensional (2D) linear systems and 2D shift invariance
• 2D Fourier transform analysis
• 2D random signals and fields
• 2D mean square estimation
• Optical imaging sensors and systems
• Image sampling and quantization
• Image transforms DFT, FFT
• 2D spatial filtering
• Image enhancement and restoration
• Principal Component Analysis
• 2D pattern recognition, correlation
• 2D statistical filters for signal detection
  

The course includes regular lectures. Instead of written exams, the course focuses primarily on projects (including Bio-Med Eng. topics), computer assignments, and presentations by students for hands on experience. We shall have laboratory demonstration of image processing applications.

BME 6086-006 Mechanics of the Cytoskeleton & Cellular Membranes
The aim of this class is to explore the behavior of mechanical elements of biological cells. Most of the cellular structures are soft, in the sense that they are subjected to significant thermal fluctuations, while their response to loading is usually not linear and time-dependent. The general strategy of this class is to first identify common structural features of the cell, and then to investigate its mechanical components in isolation, and as integral components of simple cells. Specifically, we will focus on the structure and mechanical behavior of the cytoskeleton and the biomembranes and we will investigate their functionality for various cell activities such as cell motility, and cell division.