Naughtons: interns are welcome.

Jim Polarek directs collagen development at FibroGen, a Southern San Francisco company that provides cultured human collagen for matrix to companies and research groups. He advises anyone interested in tissue engineering to consider an internship, either for an undergraduate summer job or as a postgraduate. A biologically oriented internship can be especially valuable for students in engineering disciplines, he adds. Gail Naughton, of Advanced Tissue Sciences, points to her company's programme, which supports up to 24 graduate and undergraduate students.

Other useful contacts are the Tissue Engineering Society, the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative and company scientific advisory boards. Glenn Booma of Genzyme says, “We're more than happy to have people contact us and come in and take a tour; it's one of the ways we find good people.”

Booma adds that for management jobs a good combination is dual master's degrees: one a BS/MS from a five-year programme followed, after a few years' work experience, by an MBA. “The niche specialist in today's job market is challenged, but a dual degree shows you can have a broad understanding,” he comments.