J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering

BMSB buildingWelcome to the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering.  On our website you can find out all about us: our people, our educational programs, and our research.  We are very excited to have moved into the new Biomedical Sciences Building, which now houses the department's administration and research labs.  This 85,000 sq. ft. building is attached to the Health Sciences complex and allow easy collaborations.  Please note our updated contact information at the bottom of this page.

Our educational program currently has 35 MS and 57 PhD students enrolled, and we have awarded 161 degrees since the program's inception in 1998.

On the research side, we have obtained over $10M in funding and our faculty and students have published over 450 peer reviewed articles.

Message from the Chair

I am very pleased to have the opportunity to guide the Department of Biomedical Engineering in this transition period. We look forward to solidifying our recent gains as well as moving in new directions.

BME Ballers Drop Season Opener

BMSB buildingDefensive struggles in the first half doomed the BME Ballers to drop a 3-5 decision to Bicuspid Futbol in the intramural regular season opener on Tuesday night, January 24.

Last season the BME soccer team was forced to linger on the waiting list for most of the season. However, this season the BME Ballers are playing the full season in the Graduate/Faculty/Staff 2nd Division, plus the playoffs.

The BME Ballers will play every Tuesday at 7:00 PM on the Southwest Fields for the next five weeks. The Ballers next game is next Tuesday, January 31 on field 4 versus the Minesweepers.

Dr. Huabei Jiang Receives New Grant From Bankhead-Coley

Huabei Jiang

Dr. Huabei Jiang, a J. Crayton Pruitt Family Professor, has been awarded a one-year $155,250 Bankhead-Coley Bridge Grant entitled “Combined Photoacoustic and Diffuse Optical Tomography.” Dr. Stephen Grobmyer, MD, Associate Professor and Edward M. Copeland III Chair in Breast Cancer Research from the Department of Surgery was named as co-Investigator.

In this project, Dr. Jiang and his students, in collaboration with Dr. Grobmyer, a surgical oncologist, will develop a novel imaging technology that integrates photoacoustic tomography and diffuse optical tomography in a single platform for breast cancer detection in humans. The success of this research may allow the detection of breast cancer at a much earlier stage while the tumors are still very small.

Dr. Allen Transitions K99/R00 Career Award

Dr. Kyle Allen successfully transitioned his K99/R00 career award from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to its independent research phase. The 3-year $747,000 award will support Dr. Allen's new laboratory in their investigations of links between chronic TMJ (jaw joint) inflammation, pain, and disability.

TMJ (jaw) disorders are the 2nd most common musculoskeletal condition that results in chronic pain and disability. These disorders affect 5-12% of the population with an annual cost of $4,000,000,000 according to NIDCR health statistics. The goal of this proposal is to develop research tools that will improve our understanding how of temporomandibular joint disorders develop and progress.

The J. Crayton Pruitt Family Lectures in Biomedical Engineering

This series of lectures is newly established in honor of the J. Crayton Pruitt Family for their exceptional support for the Department.  We are especially indebted to J. Crayton Pruitt, Sr., (1931-2011) not only for financial support, but also for his great interest in all things intellectual and entrepreneurial.  Dr. Pruitt was particularly interested in nurturing young scholars and for this last we are establishing this lectureseries, with each lecturer named a J. Crayton Pruitt Scholar.  We hope that this honor is one that helps the Scholar on her or his career path as well as that it informs the wider world of the progress in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida.

We are proud to announce our inaugural recipient of this award is Dr. Carolyn Bayer, holder of the Ruth Kirschstein / NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Bayer’s talk was entitled "Photoacoustic Molecular Imaging and Nanoparticle Contrast Agent Design".  In the accompanying photograph she receives the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Scholar plaque from BME interim chair Bruce Wheeler.  

 

Spring Undergraduate Courses

Students with an interest to be admitted into the BME junior year need to make sure to follow the BME lower division courses.

For current sophomores, there are 2 courses you must take in Spring 2012:

  • BME3060 - BME Fundamentals - open to register on ISIS
  • PCB3713 - Cell and Systems Physiology - restricted enrollment, fill out the form
*Note: if you have not taken PHY2049, you can take it as a co-req.

 

J. Crayton Pruitt, Sr. 1931 - 2011

It is with great sadness in our hearts that we note the passing of Dr. J. Crayton Pruitt, Sr.

Dr. Pruitt was a visionary leader for the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering.

He made multiple gifts endowing the department, including professorships, to enable our recruiting of world class talent to Gainesville. The department endowment has been essential to the development of the careers of our faculty and our graduate students, helping us to meet the tremendous need for biomedical engineering research and the demand from students for a first class education.

Unfortunately Dr. Pruitt did not live to see the first undergraduates enroll and graduate from his department – we're sure he would have been very proud of how these young women and men will go out into the world to create new technologies and solve important problems in the delivery of health care.

Dr. Pruitt remained actively engaged with the department. This was clear from his last Advisory Board meeting where he continually engaged the faculty in discussions of their scientific work and its implications for health care delivery.

Dr. Pruitt also leaves a legacy as a Biomedical Engineer, having invented a device, the Pruitt-Inahara Shunt that substantially changed the practice of heart surgery. We are mindful that he has inspired us by professional example as well as by his vision for our department.

We will miss him greatly.

A news article appears in the St. Petersburg Times.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/obituaries/article1196079.ece

Dr. Janie Fouke appointed as Dean of Engineering in Singapore

Janie Fouke was named Dean of Engineering at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.  Dr. Fouke was formerly the provost at the University of Florida and a faculty member in the BME department.  We congratulate Dr. Fouke with her new position. 

Huabei Jiang named UF Research Foundation Professor

Huabei JiangBME Professor Huabei Jiang was named UF Research Foundation Professor for 2011.  Funded from royalty income from UF technologies, this prestegious professorship was awarded to 33 professors.  The three-year award includes an annual salary supplement and a one-time grant.  Please join us in congratulating Dr. Jiang for this honor.

Read the full announcement

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