Undergraduate research at the interface of medicine and engineering: development of a tracheal cell delivery system

The Center for Tissue Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the Chemical Engineering Department at WPI have collaborated on several projects involving undergraduate chemical engineering students in biomedical research. One goal is to develop a tracheal cell delivery system for smoke inhalation victims. Destruction of tracheal cell lining from smoke inhalation is a major cause of fatality and serious injury during fires. A method that delivers viable tracheal cells to a victim could significantly impact patient recovery. An undergraduate chemical engineer (A. Roberts) used a jet-atomizer to successfully nebulize viable chondrocytes suspended in a polymer solution. The polymer carrier gelled at body temperature, trapping the cells and depositing them in the inner annular region of a model trachea. Radial and axial profiles were measured. We describe the collaboration, the instructional design, and student learning outcomes that allowed significant undergraduate multidisciplinary research. The student describes his research experience including project-specific results.