Thanks for the responses. I'm most interested in doing basic work on a topic that's clinically relevant (e.g. investigating new molecular therapies, be it siRNA 'bombs' / nanofabricated devices / etc for pancreatic/brain cancer). That's sort of what I meant by "translational." I'm debating whether a Bioengineering PhD or Biochem/Molecular physics PhD would be more appropriate for this sort of work. I realize this could fall under the umbrella of "biology" as well, but I'm very interested in taking courses on nanomedicine, biomedical device development, etc. as well because I hope to one day be involved on the industry side as well and they tend to value the more technical degrees.
When I browsed through various programs it's clear that some are hard-core engineering focused, with very few clinically relevant projects, while some are more clinical. I think I will begin to look in the big journals for a match, but in the meanwhile I'd love to take suggestions if anyone knows a place that aligns well with my interests. SDN is largely unhelpful for research-related discussions...Thanks.