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�糵����, IL — March 23, 2001 —

On March 29, 2001, the Illinois Institute of Technology will host a symposium on biomedical engineering to celebrate its new collaboration with faculty at the University of �糵���� to offer students a PhD degree program in biomedical engineering. Under the new collaboration, it is envisioned that engineering students from IIT’s new biomedical engineering program register for classes at the University of �糵���� to help them get a better understanding of the biology of the human body. Conversely, University of �糵���� students will be able to take engineering classes at IIT.

“The advantages of this collaboration are enormous to both institutions,” says Vincent Turitto, director of IIT’s Pritzker Institute of Medical Engineering. “Engineering concepts have become integral to many fields in medicine and the biological sciences. Biologists and medical students being trained at the University of �糵���� will now have access to these engineering approaches and IIT’s engineers will have access to the ideas and tools of modern biology and clinical medicine,” Turitto says.

The symposium, entitled, “Biomedical Engineering in the 21st Century: Challenges and Promise” will feature plenary lectures by Shu Chien from the University of California- San Diego, Robert Langer from MIT and George Whitesides from Harvard. Talks will also be presented by leaders in the biomedical engineering field from IIT and the University of �糵����.

Building upon the research strengths of The University of �糵����, Argonne National Laboratory, IIT Research Institute and Illinois Institute of Technology, the Pritzker Institute will initially emphasize these areas of investigation:

• Cell and tissue engineering, focusing on disease states leading to heart attack and stroke and the development of tissue-based replacement organs, such as blood vessels and heart valves.
• Neuroengineering, focusing on visual disorders and neural information processing and the development of clinical instrumentation, biosensors and visual prostheses.
• Medical imaging, focusing on signal processing unique modes of medical imaging, such as diffraction enhanced imaging, made possible through the resources of the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.

Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting technological university awarding degrees in the sciences, mathematics and engineering, as well as architecture, psychology, design, business and law. IIT’s interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum prepares the university’s 6,200 students for leadership roles in an increasingly complex and culturally diverse global workplace.