Bioengineering Center
Bioengineering applies engineering
principles and practices to living things
to solve some of the most challenging
problems that face our world today.
Discoveries resulting from the combination
of engineering, biological and medical
sciences can help people lead longer,
healthier and more productive lives.
Bioengineering researchers are currently
working on projects as diverse as growing
replacement cartilage for arthritic joints to
developing a device that will give needlefree
injections.
The establishment of the Bioengineering
Research Institute Center (BERC) will
give the University of Kansas and KU
Medical Center the opportunity to
become major players in life sciences
research and education.
Led by KU‘s Director of Bioengineering,
Paulette Spencer, DDS, PhD, the BERC
will bring national and international
recognition to the region in the area of
bioengineering. This recognition will open
the doors to new funding opportunities for
researchers and investigators. The BERC
will convene a synergistic team of material
scientists, engineers from diverse classical
disciplines, pharmaceutical experts, life
and physical scientists, computer scientists,
clinicians and clinical investigators.
Over the next 10 years, the BERC plans
to recruit an additional 10 senior and nine
junior faculty, bringing the total staffing to
30 senior and 15 junior faculty.
5,300 Kansans die each year from cancer.
22%
of all deaths in Kansas are from cancer, the second leading cause of death after heart disease.
$1.6 billion is the estimated annual cost – $4.4 million per day – of cancerrelated medical expenses and lost productivity in Kansas.
400
Kansas women die of breast cancer each year, the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women in Kansas. From 2000 to 2002, 24 percent of Kansas women who were 40 and older had not had a mammogram.
587
Kansans died due to colorectal cancer in 2002.
1,479 Kansans died of lung cancer in 2002, making it the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women in Kansas.
12,000
new cases of skin cancer are diagnosed annually in Kansas.
312 Kansas men died of prostate cancer in 2002.
2,300
Kansas jobs are created by the addition of $100 million in research funding.
10.1 million cancer survivors are alive today in the United States.
65%
of people diagnosed with cancer are expected to live at least five years after diagnosis.
$4.79 billion was invested in cancer research by the National Cancer Institute in fiscal year 2006.
©
The University of Kansas Medical Center