ROSSLYN, Va.--Sept. 2, 1998--Biomedical engineers at 29 universities have been awarded a total of more than $7.5 million by The Whitaker Foundation to solve medical problems and improve human health.

Some of the 39 supported research projects include:

• A new surgical tool to aid in cataract surgery (U. of Wisc.);
  
• Treating diabetes mellitus (Duke U.); Preventing the spread of cancer through the bloodstream (Johns Hopkins U.);
  
• Healing spinal cord injuries with a spinal graft (U. of Toronto) and regenerating nerve cells (CWRU; U. of Texas at Austin);
  
• Making artificial joints last longer (Brigham and Women's Hospital); and
  
• Giving severe stroke patients increased use of their arms (U. of Calif. at Irvine).

The Biomedical Engineering Research Grants, with awards totaling up to $210,000 over three years, are designed to help promising new investigators establish research careers. The foundation holds three competitions annually, and currently supports nearly 350 researchers at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

The Whitaker Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created in 1975 in the belief that engineering can improve medical care. In addition to the research grants program, the foundation operates six other programs for biomedical engineering research and education.

Following is a list of primary investigators by institution and including project titles.

Allegheny University of the Health Sciences, Philadelphia, PA Kenneth A. Barbee, Ph.D. Optimization of Angioplasty to Minimize Smooth Muscle Cell Injury and Prevent Restenosis

Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, MO Michael L. Dustin, Ph.D. Affinity and Kinetics of Molecular Interactions in Leukocyte Adhesion to Artificial Surfaces

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA Z. Maria Oden, Ph.D. The Influence of Bisphosphonate Therapy on the Density Distribution and Structural Capacity of the Human Femur

Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA Anuj Bellare, Ph.D. Engineering Polyethylene to Improve the Performance of Patellar Implants

University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA David J. Reinkensmeyer, Ph.D. Mechatronic Rehabilitation for Arm Movement after Stroke

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH Ravi Bellamkonda, Ph.D. Engineered Three-Dimensional Substrates for Nerve Regeneration

Michael Wendt, Ph.D. Active Tip-Tracking for Interventional MRI Procedure Guidance

University of Colorado, Boulder, CO Victor Barocas, Ph.D. Role of Aqueous Humor Dynamics in Glaucoma

University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO Robin Shandas, Ph.D. Fluid Mechanics of Ventricular Filling

Duke University, Durham, NC Ashutosh Chilkoti, Ph.D. Targeted Delivery of Radionuclides to Tumors by Genetically Engineered Thermally-Responsive Polymers

Leslie M. Collins, Ph.D. Improved Signal Processing for Auditory Prosthetic Devices

David R. Gilland, Ph.D. Hybrid Data for Evaluation of Cardiac SPECT Methods

Mark W. Grinstaff, Ph.D. Biopolymers for Islet Cell Transplantation

University of Florida, Gainesville, FL Weihong Tan, Ph.D. Engineering an Optical Patch-Clamp Device for Single Ion Channel Recording

The General Hospital Corporation, Boston, MA Brett Bouma, Ph.D. Subcellular Resolution Endoscopic Microscopy

The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD M. Saleet Jafri, Ph.D. Theoretical Analysis of Cardiac Energetics and Ischemia

Konstantinos Konstantopoulos, Ph.D. Bioengineering Aspects of Cancer Metastasis: Effects of Fluid Mechanical Forces on Blood Cell-Tumor Cell Interactions

Susumu Mori, Ph.D. Development of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Methodology for the Noninvasive Study of Brain Fiber Structure

University of Louisville, Louisville, KY Thomas M. Moriarty, M.D., Ph.D. 3-D Navigation Through the Human Brain: A Computer Vision-Based System for Endoscopic Surgery

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Ann Marie Sastry, Ph.D. Investigation of Failure Mechanisms in Peripheral Nerves

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN Rolf Gruetter, Ph.D. 13C MRS at 4 Tesla: A Novel Probe of Brain Metabolism

Nikolaos Tsekos, Ph.D. Methods for Dynamic Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy of the Heart

Montreal Neurological Institute, Montreal, QC Bruce Pike, Ph.D. Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Cerebral Oxygen Consumption and Perfusion

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC David S. Lalush, Ph.D. Dual-Plane Circular-Orbit Cone-Beam Brain SPECT

Ontario Cancer Institute, Toronto, ON Lothar Lilge, Ph.D. Dosimetry for Photodynamic Therapy of Barrett's Esophagus and Non-Resectable Brain Tumors

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA David Solomon, M.D., Ph.D. Three-Dimensional Gaze and Posture Control During Turns and Tilts

Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, Toronto, ON Beth Sproule, Pharm.D. Fuzzy Logic Modeling in Clinical Psychopharmacology: Development and Evaluation of a Novel Approach

Texas A&M University, College Station, TX Michael V. Pishko, Ph.D. Microfabrication of Implantable Biosensor Arrays

University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX Josef A. Kas, Ph.D. The Optical Stretcher -- Single Cell Elasticity Measurements for Early Diagnosis of Malignant Cells and for Biopolymer Engineering

Christine E. Schmidt, Ph.D. Quantitative Analysis of Neurite Outgrowth in Response to an Electrical Stimulus

University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX Charles W. Patrick, Ph.D. In Vivo Analysis and Control of Neovascularization in a Tissue Engineered Construct

Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA William Tao Shi, Ph.D. Subharmonic Imaging and Subharmonic-Aided Pressure Estimation with Microbubble-Based Ultrasound Contrast Agents

University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Molly S. Shoichet, Ph.D. Designing a Synthetic Graft to Enhance Axonal Regeneration After CNS Injury

University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT Andrew Alexander, Ph.D. Development of a Real-Time MR Angiography System

Russell J. Stewart, Ph.D. Protein Crosslinked Hybrid Hydrogels with Modulated Swelling Transitions

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN E. Duco Jansen, Ph.D. Multispectral in vivo Monitoring of Laser-Induced Injury to Biological Tissue

Washington University, St. Louis, MO Brian T. Saam, Ph.D. MRI of Lung Ventilatory Function with Hyperpolarized 3He

Matthew J. Silva, Ph.D. Effects of in vivo Loading on Cyclic Mechanical Properties of Bone

University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI Amit Lal, Ph.D. Silicon-Based Ultrasonic/Laser Microsurgical Tools for Ophthalmic Surgery