Applications are requested for undergraduate research positions for Summer 2008 in Biomedical Engineering at Saint Louis University. All students interested in working in a research laboratory this summer are required to complete the application process as described below. Potential projects include:

1.) Building a better model of the human spine (Bledsoe Lab): physical and/or finite element modeling of human spine.

2.) Biomedical Instrumentation for Imaging (Barnett Lab): design oriented project applying circuits skills with focus on ultrasound or other imaging modality; MATLAB skills REQUIRED.

3.) Automated Sleep Scoring in Rodents (Barnett Lab): collect/analyze data for sleep deprivation studies or work on the refinement of sleep data feature selection; MATLAB skills REQUIRED.

4.) Imprinted Polymers as Non-thrombogenic Blood Filters (Bergmann Lab): Poly(ethylene glycol) polymers will be fabricated to recognize specific serum proteins using the technique of molecular imprinting. In this technique, polymers are polymerized in the presence of the protein deemed the target. The presence of the target creates recognitive cavities in the polymer that recognize both the specific shape of the protein and the surface chemical sequence. These recognitive polymers have a high binding efficiency for the target molecule and can remove the target protein from a complex solution of proteins such as blood. Students will gain understanding of protein structure, polymer synthesis, and relevant polymer and solution characterization techniques.

5.) Bioactive, Degradable Polyurethane Scaffolds as Vascular Graft Substitutes (Bergmann Lab): Polyurethane copolymers will be synthesized with cell-adhesive and protease-degradable moieties for use as a small-diameter vascular graft. Polymers will then be cast into a wide-array of shapes using UV-catalyzed polymerization. Cell adhesion, behavior and graft degradation will be studied using a flow-loop bioreactor. Students will learn polymer synthesis techniques as well as gain an understanding of the parameters that can be varied and studied when seeding scaffolds in a closed-loop bioreactor.

6.) Cellular interactions with 3D materials (Willits Lab): investigate how nerve cells or cardiovascular cells interact with PEG gels.

7.) Electrical stimulation and cell function (Willits Lab) : investigate how electrical stimulation alters neural or cardiovascular cell function.

8.) Tissue Engineering (Miller Lab)

The SRE is tentatively scheduled for 8/9 weeks (depending upon previous experience, training will be provided the week of May 27th), beginning May 27/June 2 (ending July 25). Each student will be required to spend 40 hrs/wk during those weeks to complete their project. Pay is anticipated to be $7/hr. Additional programming will be planned during the summer requiring attendance (such as seminars, presentations, discussions, and tours) and a seminar style presentation at the end of the summer.

Application Process
Students interested in applying must complete the application form and return their application and references. Applications will be examined on a rolling basis as they are received beginning April 1. Offers for the positions will be based on the following criteria (to be included with your application):

• official transcript with GPA (minimum of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale) and academic standing
• personal statement that
  1. details your laboratory experience,
  2. states why a summer research opportunity in BME would support your career goals, and
  3. describes which project(s) you would be interested in working on (and why)
• completed application form
• one recommendation letters, from science, engineering, or math faculty (not BME)
• one listed faculty reference from BME (no letter required, just a name)
• resume

Applications will be accepted via email to willitsr@slu.edu or by fax to 314-977-8288.