research guide - UTEP Magazine - University of Texas at El Paso

Interdisciplinary
Research Leads
to Health Care
Innovations
Blurring the boundaries between medicine and machines,
UTEP engineers are investigating innovative ways to heal the injured
and sick, from regenerating bone and nerve tissue to helping patients
with neurological problems learn to walk again.
The University’s biomedical engineering research and
education programs are growing rapidly under the leadership of
College of Engineering Dean Richard Schoephoerster, Ph.D., who
established biomedical engineering programs at Florida International
University before coming to UTEP in 2007.
New master’s and doctoral programs in biomedical engineering
are in the works as UTEP leverages a century-old engineering legacy
with the strength of its biological sciences research portfolio.
At the W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation, research teams
are using rapid-prototyping machines to fabricate unique implantable
“scaffolds” for tissue engineering.
And in the Laboratory for Human Motion Analysis and
Neurorehabilitation, engineering expertise is improving diagnosis
and treatment for people suffering from nerve disorders and injuries.
Through collaborations with local hospitals, biomedical
engineers are turning research into real solutions for patients.
Schoephoerster sees more and more opportunities to make an
impact in this emerging discipline, thanks to the opening of the Paul
L. Foster School of Medicine at the Texas Tech University Health
Sciences Center in El Paso, and our region’s strong manufacturing
sector.
“Biomedical engineering is one of the main areas we will be
focusing on because so many opportunities exist. We have a very
solid base to build on,” Schoephoerster says.
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