Medical education, brought to life

Serious science. Better ways to learn.

I’m Tyler Bland, a scientist, educator, and builder creating games, simulations, and digital tools for medical and health education. Complex science is welcome here. Unnecessary boredom isn’t.

Teach · Study · Design · Build

Tyler Bland surrounded by medical diagrams and characters from his educational games

About me

Hi, I’m Tyler.

A scientist, educator, and builder
in medical education.

I teach, study how people learn, and turn complex science into interactive experiences.

My work brings together biomedical research, educational technology, and game design. I’m interested in what we can create when those disciplines—and the people behind them—work together.

Medical Education

I develop learning experiences that help future health professionals make sense of complex science.

Educational Research

I study how people learn—and how we can use that knowledge to teach more effectively.

Interactive Tools

I build digital tools and simulations that give learners a way to explore complex concepts for themselves.

Game-Based Learning

I design games around medical and scientific concepts, bringing learning into the experience of play.

Areas of Expertise

  • Pharmacology
  • Physiology
  • Educational Technology
  • Game Design
  • AI in Education

Teaching brings the questions. Research helps me investigate them. Design and development give me ways to put ideas into practice. Together, they shape how I approach a learning challenge—and what I build next.

  1. Teach
  2. Study
  3. Design
  4. Build
A continuous cycle for a brighter tomorrow: teach to share knowledge, study to ask better questions, design to create solutions, and build to bring them to life.

Featured Products

News & Updates

What could we build together?

Have a teaching challenge, a research question, or an idea for a learning tool? I’d love to hear it. Half-formed ideas welcome.

Email Tyler

Teach. Study. Design. Build.

From a learning challenge
to something we can explore.

My work spans biomedical science, medical teaching, and educational technology. That gives me several ways to approach a question: as a scientist investigating it, an educator explaining it, and a builder making something learners can use.

I bring those perspectives to games, simulations, and visual learning tools, alongside research into how people experience and learn from them. If you’re exploring a teaching challenge or a research question, let’s compare notes.

My five projects are Medimon, BlandPharm, BlandPharm Apps, Cinematic Clinical Narratives (CCNs), and MedSchool+.

Let’s Collaborate

Educational research

Research & Publications

Explore my work in biomedical science, visual learning, educational games, and AI in education.

21 publications · 4 projects & research areas

Medimon5 papers
  1. 2026

    A Mixed-Methods Feasibility Pilot Study of Medimon for High School Endocrine Education

    Svoboda-Powell, Sebastian; Mitchell, Shane; Bordeaux, Ciara; Ferguson, Emma; Coad, Joscelyn; Silalahi, Alexandra; Bowman, Cameron; Holte, Jessi; Kosmulski, Patryk; Bland, Tyler

    Multimodal Technologies and Interaction · 10 (8) · 84

  2. 2026

    Design and Evaluation of an Endocrine-Focused Serious Trading Card Game in Undergraduate Medical Education

    Howe, Harrison; Sovobada-Powel, Sebastian; Bordeaux, Ciara; Ferguson, Emma; Coad, Joscelyn; Bland, Tyler

    Education Sciences · 16 (2) · 269

  3. 2025

    An Educational Trading Card Game for a Medical Immunology Course

    Singleton, Vincent; Bordeaux, Ciara; Ferguson, Emma; Bland, Tyler

    Education Sciences · 15 (6) · 768

  4. 2025

    Space Medicine Meets Serious Games: Boosting Engagement with the Medimon Creature Collector

    Hundrup, Martin; Holte, Jessi; Bordeaux, Ciara; Ferguson, Emma; Coad, Joscelyn; Soule, Terence; Bland, Tyler

    Multimodal Technologies and Interaction · 9 (8) · 80

  5. 2024

    Visual Mnemonics and Gamification: A New Approach to Teaching Muscle Physiology

    Bland, Tyler; Guo, Meize

    Journal of Technology-Integrated Lessons and Teaching · 3 (1) · 73-82

BlandPharm8 papers
  1. 2026

    A Multisite Study of an Animated Cinematic Clinical Narrative for Anticoagulant Pharmacology Education

    Lee, Amanda; DeWitt, Kyle; Guo, Meize; Bland, Tyler

    AI · 7 (2) · 59

  2. 2026

    Harnessing “Vibe Coding” to Rapidly Develop Tailored Educational Apps: A Generative AI-Driven ECG Interpretation Tool in Medical Education

    Al Janabi, Ibrahim; Bland, Tyler

    AI · 7 (6) · 223

  3. 2026

    Nephron Flow Lab: Vibe Coding a Visual Nephrology Learning App

    Calderwood, Isaac; Bland, Tyler

    Multimodal Technologies and Interaction · 10 (9) · 93

  4. 2025

    A Multi-Institution Mixed Methods Analysis of a Novel Acid-Base Mnemonic Algorithm

    Massaad, Camille; Howe, Harrison; Guo, Meize; Bland, Tyler

    Multimodal Technologies and Interaction · 9 (11) · 113

  5. 2025

    AI-Generated Mnemonic Images Improve Long-Term Retention of Coronary Artery Occlusions in STEMI: A Comparative Study

    Alomar, Zahraa; Guo, Meize; Bland, Tyler

    Technologies · 13 (6) · 217

  6. 2025

    Antiparasitic Pharmacology Goes to the Movies: Leveraging Generative AI to Create Educational Short Films

    Worthley, Benjamin; Guo, Meize; Sheneman, Lucas; Bland, Tyler

    AI · 6 (3) · 60

  7. 2025

    Enhancing Medical Student Engagement Through Cinematic Clinical Narratives: Multimodal Generative AI–Based Mixed Methods Study

    Bland, Tyler

    JMIR Med Educ · 11 · e63865

  8. 2024

    Multimedia design for learner interest and achievement: a visual guide to pharmacology

    Bland, Tyler; Guo, Meize; Dousay, Tonia A.

    BMC Medical Education · 24 (1) · 113

Biomedical Research7 papers
  1. 2024

    Cholinergic signaling via muscarinic M1 receptor confers resistance to docetaxel in prostate cancer

    Wang, Jing; Wei, Jing; Pu, Tianjie; Zeng, Alan; Karthikeyan, Varsha; Bechtold, Baron; Vo, Karen; Chen, Jingrui; Lin, Tzu-Ping; Chang, Amy P.; Corey, Eva; Puhr, Martin; Klocker, Helmut; Culig, Zoran; Bland, Tyler; Wu, Boyang Jason

    Cell Reports Medicine · 5 (2)

  2. 2021

    WLS-Wnt signaling promotes neuroendocrine prostate cancer

    Bland, Tyler; Wang, Jing; Yin, Lijuan; Pu, Tianjie; Li, Jingjing; Gao, Jin; Lin, Tzu-Ping; Gao, Allen C.; Wu, Boyang Jason

    iScience · 24 (1)

  3. 2020

    Leptin Controls Glutamatergic Synaptogenesis and NMDA-Receptor Trafficking via Fyn Kinase Regulation of NR2B

    Bland, Tyler; Zhu, Mingyan; Dillon, Crystal; Sahin, Gulcan Semra; Rodriguez-Llamas, Jose Luis; Appleyard, Suzanne M; Wayman, Gary A

    Endocrinology · 161 (2) · bqz030

  4. 2019

    USP8 Deubiquitinates the Leptin Receptor and Is Necessary for Leptin-Mediated Synapse Formation

    Bland, Tyler; Sahin, Gulcan Semra; Zhu, Mingyan; Dillon, Crystal; Impey, Soren; Appleyard, Suzanne M; Wayman, Gary A

    Endocrinology · 160 (8) · 1982–1998

  5. 2016

    Tropomodulin isoforms utilize specific binding functions to modulate dendrite development

    Gray, Kevin T.; Suchowerska, Alexandra K.; Bland, Tyler; Colpan, Mert; Wayman, Gary; Fath, Thomas; Kostyukova, Alla S.

    Cytoskeleton · 73 (6) · 316–328

  6. 2015

    Branched dimerization of Tat peptide improves permeability to HeLa and hippocampal neuronal cells

    Monreal, I. Abrrey; Liu, Qian; Tyson, Katherine; Bland, Tyler; Dalisay, Doralyn S.; Adams, Erin V.; Wayman, Gary A.; Aguilar, Hector C.; Saludes, Jonel P.

    Chemical Communications · 51 (25) · 5463–5466

  7. 2014

    Leptin Induces Hippocampal Synaptogenesis via CREB-Regulated MicroRNA-132 Suppression of p250GAP

    Dhar, Matasha; Zhu, Mingyan; Impey, Soren; Lambert, Talley J.; Bland, Tyler; Karatsoreos, Ilia N.; Nakazawa, Takanobu; Appleyard, Suzanne M.; Wayman, Gary A.

    Molecular Endocrinology · 28 (7) · 1073–1087

Other1 paper
  1. 2023

    ClinLearning: An Online Clinical Tutoring and Crowdsourced Treatment Recommendation System

    Jamil, Hasan M.; Bland, Tyler; Bernitsas, Evanthia; Carr, Nancy; Phillips, Derrick; Shawon, Farjahan; Seyoum, Berhane; Gow, Alexander

    Information Integration and Web Intelligence · 408–413

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