Thank you to everyone who participated in our 7th Annual Pruitt Research Day! This successful event included a full day of student talks, keynote speaker and poster presentations in celebration of the wonderful research being conducted in the department and the BME community.

 

We hold our celebration near the birth date of Dr. J. Crayton Pruitt Sr. whose vision and generosity helped found the department. Dr. Pruitt was always most excited to hear about and discuss the achievements and research being conducted by our students. You can read more about Dr. Pruitt here.

 

The Keynote speaker was Dr. Maribel Vazquez, associate professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Grove School of Engineering, The City College New York, who spoke about her research developing microfluidic systems to evaluate the migration of progenitor cells and its implications in the health and development of the nervous system. Her research projects have utilized bio-nano-microtechnologies to examine the development and dissemination of neural tumors, collective behavior of glial and neuronal cells for regenerative medicine and synaptic interconnectivity of photoreceptor cells during retinogenesis and retinal transplantation.

 

The department was honored to have four alumni volunteer their time as poster judges. Thank you to:
•    Shashank Kabra, M.S. 2012,  Manufacturing Engineer, Axogen, Inc.
•    Dr. Lan Hoang-Minh, Ph.D. 2012/M.S. 2007, Assistant Scientist, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Florida
•    Dr. Matthew Peterson, Ph.D. 2009/M.S. 2007, Clinical Research Manager, Axogen, Inc.
•    Brian Romat, M.S. 2013, Product Development Engineer, Axogen, Inc.

 

We had six student talks and 36 poster presentations this year. Faculty members judged the posters and selected finalists. Thank you to all the students who worked hard preparing for your presentations.

 

Congratulations to the following award winners!

 

Sabrina Freeman (Dr. Benjamin Keselowsky’s lab) – Best Oral Presentation

 

 

Enrico Opri (Dr. Aysegul Gunduz’ lab) – Best Poster Presentation

 

 

Jose I. Varillas (Dr. Hugh Fan’s lab) – Honorable Mention Best Poster Presentation

 

 

Congratulations to all the winners and participants!

 

Please visit our Flickr page to view all the photos from the event!