And for those reasons, Im in: local Sharks invest in life-changing Mines biomechanical proposals [Video]

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Dr. Tugba Ozdemir’s Cell and Tissue engineering class have this to say in a class project presentation not unlike an episode of Shark Tank:

“Sharks, are you ready to invest?!”

Five investors acting as “the sharks” came in to hear entrepreneurial proposals based on inventions meant to revolutionize treatments in a critical field: Burn wound management. One way to do this is through cell and tissue engineering.

“The field of cell and tissue engineering is a new field,” Ozdemir said. “My students take this as a senior elective class.”

Ozdemir, an assistant professor of nanoscience and biomedical engineering at South Dakota School of Mines, leads this elective class. She says that the innovative and entrepreneurial proposals that are a part of this class are meant to address a challenging problem in the field of burn wound management.

“This offers a solution to a long-standing problem of scarcity in organ donations so tissue engineers …