Duke BTE Curriculum & Courses

1. Courses

Engineering Students must take:

  • Two semesters credit of Biological Engineering Seminar Series
    • CBTE Fellows take four semesters
  • Four BTE Electives
  • Two non–engineering biomedical science classes
  • Biostatistics class: Either BME733 or BME890

Non-Engineering Students must take:

  • Two semesters credit of Biological Engineering Seminar Series
    • CBTE Fellows take four semesters
  • Two BTE Electives 
  • Two non–engineering biomedical science classes
  • Biostatistics class: Either BME733 or BME890

2. BioE Seminars

  • All students seeking a certificate must regularly attend BioE seminars.
  • Attend the Post-Lecture Luncheon with the speaker.
  • Escort speakers to and from meetings.

3. Kewaunee Lectures

All students seeking a CBTE certificate must participate in the Kewaunee Lecture each year. This includes presenting a poster during the poster session, attending the lecture and going to the awards ceremony.

4. Responsible Research Training

Students seeking a certificate must also satisfy the Graduate School's Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training requirements.

 Med StudentsPhD Students
Year 1

BIOTRAIN 750 (Fall): 4 hours

BIOTRAIN 751 (Spring): 4 hours

GS714: 2 hours

GS715: 2 hours

Year 2BIOTRAIN 753: 2 hours

GS717.**: 2 hours

GS717.**: 2 hours

(may choose from GS717 RCR courses)

Year 3
Year 4BIOTRAIN754 (Spring): 4 hoursBIOTRAIN 754 (Spring): 4 hours
Year 5+2 RCR Forums2 RCR Forms
Total18 hours14 hours

5. Duke CBTE Scholarly Activities

All students seeking a certificate in CBTE are expected to make participation in CBTE activities a priority throughout their tenure as Duke graduate students. These activities include:

  • Participate in the organization of CBTE activities such as the CBTE symposium, Career development workshop, CBTE socials, etc. 
  • Annual meeting with the program director
  • Student-run industry "Chalk Talks"
  • Participate in the CBTE Student Work-In-Progress Presentation Series
  • Participate in soft skill development workshops held each spring.

6. Additional Requirements for CBTE Fellows

Internship

All CBTE Fellows are required to participate in an industrial internship during the summer after their 2nd year of funding that provides interested students with extensive industrial research experience. Associates are strongly encouraged to complete an internship.

Interdisciplinary Experience/Thesis Committee Composition

The NIH encourages biotechnology trainee fellows to have significant interdisciplinary experience. CBTE Fellows should work on projects involving teams of engineering and non-engineering collaborators.  Students with an engineering background should work on a project that has substantial contributions from a non-engineering program faculty member.  

In addition, students must finish their PhD and have at least two CBTE faculty must be on their doctoral dissertation committee, one of which must be the committee chair.