Research

Opportunities for Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) students and collaborators come from a diverse pool of clinical and basic science investigators in various academic departments.

Additionally, collaboration with the University of Texas at Arlington and University of Texas at Dallas engineering schools means our BME researchers and trainees have full access to traditional engineering faculty and resources. These internal and external resources allow students to benefit from an innovative, diverse, and collaborative experience, and establish valuable mentorships. Students complete a flexible curriculum that typically includes track-specific engineering and life science courses, as well as several advanced electives related to their research.

Research Funding Highlights

• Imaging Goggles for Fluorescence-Guided Surgery - NIH/NIBIB

  Goal: The major goals of this industry-academic partnership grant are to optimize performance and ergonomics of a wearable fluorescence guided surgery device using human factors engineering. Successful completion of the research will accelerate its clinical translation and adoption in both high- and low-resource communities.

  R01EB030987 (Achilefu) • 04/1/2021 – 12/31/2024

• Nanophotosensitizers for Regenerative Phototherapy - NIH/NIBIB

  Goal: The goal of this project is to develop new products and methods (novel spatiotemporal radionuclide stimulated nanotherapy) that can efficiently deliver new bone-seeking inorganic and organic nanoparticles to treat bone legions.

  R01CA260855 (Achilefu) • 08/04/2021 – 07/31/2026

• Recruitment of an Established Investigator Award – CPRIT

  Goal: The major goal of this project is to develop a novel imaging platform to understand the dynamic changes in the tumor microenvironment in response to treatment. Successful completion of the research will also uncover new approaches to mobilize immune cells and enhance chemoimmunotherapy.

  RR220013 (Achilefu) • 12/31/2021 – 11/30/2026

• Recruitment of a Rising Stars Award – CPRIT

  Goal: The major goal of this project is to develop a novel, pan-cancer approach for immunotherapy by targeting antigens in the tumor microenvironment (TME) rather than antigens on cancer cells. This strategy will help to overcome antigen-less tumor escape and the paucity of specific tumor antigens in solid tumors.

  RR220088 (Azab) • 08/31/2022 – 08/30/2027

  Resource Links

• Animal Resource Center
• Core Facilities
• Sponsored Programs Administration
• Human Research Protection Program/IRB
• Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)