The Department of Biomedical Engineering received a $300,000 grant from the Hoblitzelle Foundation to build upon its research and teaching.

“The goals and objectives of our biomedical laboratories directly relate to the Hoblitzelle Foundation’s passion for supporting the educational, scientific and medical needs of North Texans,” said College of Engineering Dean Costas Tsatsoulis. “Providing world-class instrumentation will transform the educational experiences of more than 200 Biomedical Engineering students in addition to cultivating research and innovations vital to discovering solutions for a variety of diseases on a regional, state and national scale.”

New to UNT’s College of Engineering, the Department of Biomedical Engineering began in fall 2014. In just three years, the department has grown to nearly 220 students, with its first graduating class this May, and admitted its first group of graduate students –MS and PhD track, in fall 2017.

One of the initial goals for the department is to buy an Anatomage, a virtual anatomy machine that allows our graduate students and faculty researchers to obtain a 3-D visualization of an organ of interest and plan medical interventions.

“The Hoblitzelle grant enables our faculty and graduate students to expand their research horizons by working with state-of-the-art equipment and software,” said Vijay Vaidyanathan, founding chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. “Active involvement in research with sophisticated equipment, such as Anatomage, benefits our undergraduate students, as well.”

The grant also is eligible for 50 percent matching state funds from the Texas Research Incentive Program, a state program that matches funds awarded based on how much an institution raises in private gifts and endowments to enhance research activities. The program is limited to eight evolving research universities in Texas.