Biomedical Engineering Graduate Programs

The mission of the Vanderbilt Biophotonics Center (VBC) is to establish a trans-institutional initiative in biophotonics research, technology development and education at Vanderbilt University. The center spans across multiple schools (Engineering, Medicine and Arts & Science) and interfaces with existing centers and institutes (VICC, VINSE, VUIIS, VBI, VIIBRE, ViSE) while being anchored in Engineering. The center is focused on targeted educational programs for medical residents, fellows as well as graduate and undergraduate students and provides opportunities for learning for high schools students interested in this area. The research mission is centered around three main areas:

1. Clinical photonics
2. Neuro-photonics
3. Multiscale photonics

The Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS) is a University-wide interdisciplinary initiative that unites scientists whose interests span the spectrum of imaging research, from the underlying physics of imaging techniques to the application of imaging tools to address problems such as understanding brain function. The VUIIS has a core program of research related to developing new imaging technology based on advances in physics, engineering, and computer science. In addition to high-field MRI and MR spectroscopy in human subjects, the VUIIS offers state-of-the-art options for small animal imaging in all modalities. Vanderbilt completed a four-floor, state-of-the-art facility adjacent to Medical Center North to house the VUIIS in 2006. The $28 million project ($21 million for construction) provides a
41,000-square-foot facility to integrate current activities in imaging research and provide research space for 40 faculty members, 36 staff and more than 60 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in biomedical science, engineering, and physics. VUIIS investigators are supported by grants from the NIH, NSF, DOD, DOE, industry and foundations, as well as Vanderbilt University.

Further details on instruments and capabilities can be found at the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science

The Biomaterials laboratory resides in approximately 2,000 ft² of contiguous lab space consisting of 3 internally connect labs setup for chemical synthesis, characterization, biological applications/microscopy. The first lab is a dedicated synthesis suite that houses three fume hoods, a rotary evaporator, lyophilizer, peptide synthesizer, spin coater, NABOND nano electrospinning apparatus, isotemperature vacuum oven, isotemperature lab oven, heat/stir reaction plates with temperature controllers, and all of the necessary glassware and other requirements for organic and polymer synthesis and purification.  The second (internally connected lab) is the characterization suite and houses a PCR machine, fluorescence plate reader capable of measuring fluorescence and absorbance, a differential scanning calorimeter, a UV-vis spectrophotometer, a Waters reversed phase high pressure liquid chromatography system equipped with a UV-vis detector and capable of analytical and prep scale operation, a Shimadzu gel permeation chromatography device equipped with a computer-controlled autosampler, a UV-vis spectrophotometer (Shimadzu SPD-10A), a refractive index detector (RID-10A), and a multi-angle light scattering detector (Wyatt Treos) that allows determination of polymer absolute molecular weight.  The third (also internally connected) lab consists of the molecular biology and tissue culture suite and houses 2 sterile tissue culture hoods, 2 cell culture incubators, an autoclave, 4¡C, 20¡C, -86¡C and liquid nitrogen freezers, a full array of gel electrophoresis equipment, and a microscopy area with a Nikon AZ100 macroscope and a Nikon Eclipse Ti inverted fluorescence microscope with Nikon DS-QiMc black and white camera, Nikon Digital Sight DS-Fi1 color camera, and Nikon Elements Advanced Research image analyzing computer software.  Several centrifuges and other standard laboratory tools (i.e. water baths, mass balances, and vortexes) and bench space are also available.  Other materials characterization capabilities (i.e. Dynamic Light Scattering, Zeta potential, electron microscopes, etc.) are available through the Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE) which is co-localized within the Stevenson Center Complex.

The Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE) is an interdisciplinary, trans-institutional structure designed to facilitate interactions and exchanges between engineers and physicians. It spans three engineering departments (biomedical, electrical and computer, and mechanical) and computer science and involves VUMC faculty members in more than 10 clinical departments. Its mission is the creation, development, implementation, clinical evaluation and translation of methods, devices, algorithms, and systems designed to facilitate interventional processes and their outcomes. Its goal is to become the premier institute for the training of the next generation of surgeons, engineers, and computer scientists capable of working symbiotically on new solutions to complex interventional problems, ultimately resulting in improved patient care.

VISE’s headquarters are hosted in 7000 sq. ft. of newly renovated space in the medical center. It is in close proximity of the Vanderbilt University Institute for Imaging Science, the large animal surgical facility, and patient operating rooms. This space includes a 550 sq. feet fully operational mock OR, a 1500 sq. feet open development area, a 350 sq. feet conference room, 5 2-person offices, 14 graduate student stations, 3 development laboratories, one wet laboratory, one machine shop, one secured server room, one reception area, and one ideation area with floor-to-ceiling glass panels. The open development area is reconfigurable with wheel-mounted work benches. Power and network connections are ceiling-mounted and the space is lined with ceiling-mounted struts designed to support the weight of industrial robots used in the development of robot-assisted intervention procedures. The space is maintained by a space manager and hosts the VISE program coordinator. It is shared space that accommodates interdisciplinary teams working on active projects aligned with VISE’s core mission. Office space is occupied by staff scientists, research faculty, and, on a part-time basis, by engineering and medical school faculty members who have teams of students working in the space. Development laboratories and space in the development area are assigned on a need basis and this assignment is reviewed episodically by the VISE steering committee.

The following equipment is available in the space.

Machine shop:

• Fabrication: Stratasys F170 3D printer, Universal Systems LASER cutter (acrylic and MDF). Formlabs Form3 resin printer
• Electronics: two standard soldering stations, a surface mount soldering station, power supply, function generator, oscilloscope, and digital voltmeters
• Small tools (battery powered drills and drivers, dremel tools, heat gun, hot glue guns, vises, shop vac, phantom refrigerator

Wet lab:

• Chemical hood, chemical prep area, refrigerator, magnetic stirrer, common glass and plastic ware, common chemicals

Mock OR:

• Surgical bed
• Three surgical booms (2 for surgical lights, one for a monitor)
• Three cameras: one mounted on one surgical light boom and two ceiling mounted cameras. All cameras can be viewed simultaneously on a large screen as well as on smaller remote screens in the OR area. The cameras can be zoomed in or out.
• Recording capability to capture video from a single camera input – video is written to a USB stick that is plugged into a wall connector.

Open development area

• Reconfigurable work benches (10 stations)
• Four ceiling mounted 55” TV monitors for demonstration as well as educational purposes.

Conference room

• Equipped for video conferences

Server room

• Dedicated cooling unit
• Rack mounted Dell PowerEdge R640
• Rack Mounted mass storage server

Various equipment available to VISE users

• NDI Polaris VEGA tracker, NDI Polaris VICRA tracker, ATI Gamma force sensor, ATI Nano17 force sensor, ATI Mini40 force sensor
• One Acuson NX3 ultrasound machine
• 10 Dell Precision 7920 workstations all equipped with Nvidia RTX 2080 TI GPUs
• Mobile video resources (camera, lenses, tripod and tabletop light box)
• KUKA LBR Med Surgical Robot
• Leica M525 with DI C500 Augmented Reality Display Integration