Project Summary: The Bioengineering and Bioimaging Core The Bioengineering and Bioimaging Core (B5) is composed of four thrust areas, each of which are of critical importance for the support of tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and drug delivery system research: Biomaterials Characterization, Bioactive Matrix Synthesis and Bioreactor Design, Biomechanics, and Bioimaging. The B5 will work with the targeted COBRE PIs and outside investigators to assist them with planning and conducting their research and in the analysis of their research results in each of these four thrust areas. The Core provides state-of-the-art facilities not normally available in the laboratories of individual investigators. These facilities include a Waters HPLC system; a PerkinElmer Analysis 200 flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer; a JASCO J-810 circular dichroism spectropolarimeter; a SOPRA GES-5 variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometer; a Biacore X surface plasmon resonance spectrometer; a Kruss contact angle goniometer; an Asylum MFP-3D-BIO atomic force microscope; a custom designed multi-functional bioreactor systems; a broad range of biomechanical testing systems for both hard and soft tissues with multiaxial and environmental chamber capabilities; and a suite of in vivo bioimaging systems including digital radiography, ultrasound, IVIS Lumina XR system (fluorescence, bioluminescence imaging and X-ray combined), and Quantum FX microCT (to be purchased). The B5 will staff each of these facilities with experienced supervisors and support personnel, who will be responsible for the maintenance of the Core instruments and who will provide dedicated user training and support. As the only core in the COBRE system (out of > 200) focused on bioengineering and bioimaging, this core represents a vital component of the COBRE Center, which will provide invaluable service and support for the target-PIs as well as outside investigators working in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and drug delivery system design.