Category: News

The University of Utah College of Engineering is proud to announce the appointment of Professor Bruce Gale as the Merit Medical Systems, Inc. Endowed Professor of Engineering.

Professor Gale, who is also chair of the U’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, was honored during a ceremony May 13 at the University of Utah James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building that included College of Engineering Dean Richard B. Brown and University of Utah President Taylor Randall.

“I was very surprised to receive this recognition. There are so many great professors here at the University of Utah College of Engineering,” said Gale. “I am grateful to Merit Medical Systems and Fred Lampropoulos for providing this Endowed Professorship. I am excited by the opportunities this will present for me and my team to engage in exciting new research projects.”

Bruce Gale

Professor Bruce Gale is chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering where he has graduated 28 Ph.D. students and currently advises 10 Ph.D. students. He has published over 150 journal articles and 300 conference papers. He received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Brigham Young University and a doctorate degree in bioengineering from the U. Gale arrived at the U as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering in 2001, was named professor in 2013, and became chair of the department in 2018. He also is director of the State of Utah Center of Excellence for Biomedical Microfluidics.

Professor Gale has started six companies and served as their head of engineering, including for Microsurgical Innovations, Espira, Advanced Conceptions, wFluidx and Carterra. He has 25 issued patents.

His research is centered on biomedical applications of microfluidics. He also has expertise in biosensors, microarrays, micropumps, and microscale medical devices.

The professor has a long list of college, university, and national academic achievements. He was elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors for 2021 and received the Fulbright Specialist Program award which enabled him to travel to the Rajalakshmi Engineering College in India where he helped develop a microfluidics research program. In May 2022 he was awarded the prestigious Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology from the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity.

Merit Medical Systems, Inc.

Merit Medical is a leading manufacturer and marketer of proprietary disposable medical devices used in interventional, diagnostic, and therapeutic procedures, particularly in cardiology, radiology, oncology, critical care, and endoscopy. Merit has made it a priority to understand customers, innovate, and deliver life-changing products and services.

Merit’s founder, Fred Lampropoulos, has been in the medical device industry for more than 30 years. He currently serves as the company’s chairman and chief executive officer.

Lampropoulos holds more than 200 patents on devices used in the diagnostic and therapeutic treatment of cardiac, peripheral, gastrointestinal, and pulmonary conditions. He is also highly involved in his community and serves on many boards.

Lampropoulos is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology and CEO of the Year. He was inducted into the Utah Business Hall of Fame, the Utah Technology Hall of Fame and was recognized as the 2019 Giant in our City.

Congratulations to University of Utah mechanical engineering chair and professor, Bruce Gale, who was awarded the prestigious Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology from the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity.

Gale will be recognized during the One Utah Summit May 10 in Salt Lake City by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. His medal is one of 10 One Utah Summit Awards for 2022 that will be given and one of three Medals for Science and Technology.

“I am very surprised and honored to receive this recognition,” Gale said. “The environment at the University of Utah has been very supportive of my research and commercialization efforts and allowed for significant success in both areas.”

He received a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Brigham Young University and a doctorate in bioengineering (now biomedical engineering) from the U. He was first an assistant professor of biomedical engineering from Louisiana Tech University before he arrived at the U as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering in 2001. He was named professor in 2013 and became chair of the department in 2018. He also was director of the Utah State Center of Excellence for Biomedical Microfluidics.

He has also started several companies and served as their head of engineering, including for Microsurgical Innovations, Espira, Nanonc and Cartera. His research is centered around biomedical applications of microfluidics. He also has expertise in developing biosensors, microarrays, micropumps, and microneedles.

Gale has a long list of university-wide and department academic achievements. He was recognized as one of two honorees in the entrepreneur category for his 2017 work, “Optofluidic Device for Genetic Screening.” He also received the TVC “Star” Award in 2016. The U’s Department of Mechanical Engineering has recognized him with multiple awards for Researcher of the Year, and he was named the 2014 Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Distinguished Mentor by the University of Utah Graduate School. Most recently he was named an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors for 2021, and he received the Fulbright Specialist Program award in which he is spending more than two weeks in India to help develop a microfluidics research program with the Rajalakshmi Engineering College.

In the Academic/Research category of the Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology (medals are also given in the K-12 and Industry categories), the award is given to someone who has distinguished themselves in the field of science, engineering, or other technologies, and in factors including quality of research activities, the extent of recognition by peers, recognition as an educator, and personal research and science achievements.

Past recipients of the Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology from the U’s College of Engineering include Dean Richard B. Brown, electrical and computer engineering professor Cynthia Furse, and materials sciences and engineering Distinguished Professor Anil Virkar.

Click here to see a full list of this year’s One Utah Summit Award award winners.

University of Utah mechanical engineering professor and chair Bruce Gale, whose research in microfluidics has been spun out into numerous companies and led to 22 US patents, was elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

Mechanical Engineering professor Bruce Gale gave a talk on “Microfluidics for Fertility” at the virtual event of Bay Area Microfluidics Network held on October 7, 2021. The recording of the event is Here.

Mechanical Engineering Research Assistant Professor Himanshu Sant, received a $235,435 grant from Microsurgical Innovations (Prime sponsor NIH), for his research, “A Biodegradable Vascular coupling Device for End-to-End Anastomosis.”

Mechanical Engineering professor Bruce Gale received $67,750, from the Mayo Clinic for his research, “Development of a Whole Genome Amplification (WGA) Cell Analysis and Selection Instrument.”

With today’s technology, we can 3-D-print sculptures, mechanical parts, prosthetics, teeth, even guns and food. But a team of University of Utah biomedical engineers have developed a method to 3-D-print cells to produce human tissue such as ligaments and tendons, a process that will greatly improve a patient’s recovery.

A person with a badly damaged ligament, tendon, or ruptured disc could simply have new replacement tissue printed and ultimately implanted in the damaged area, according to a new paper published in the Journal of Tissue Engineering, Part C: Methods.

“It will allow patients to receive replacement tissues without additional surgeries and without having to harvest tissue from other sites, which has its own source of problems,” says University of Utah biomedical engineering assistant professor Robby Bowles, who co-authored the paper along with former U biomedical engineering master’s student, David Ede.

The 3-D-printing method, which took two years to research, involves taking stem cells from the patient’s own body fat and printing them on a layer of hydrogel to form a tendon or ligament which would later grow in vitro in a culture before being implanted. But it’s an extremely complicated process because that kind of connective tissue is made up of different cells in complex patterns. For example, cells that make up the tendon or ligament must then gradually shift to bone cells so the tissue can attach to the bone.

“This is a technique in a very controlled manner to create a pattern and organizations of cells that you couldn’t create with previous technologies,” Bowles says of the printing process. “It allows us to very specifically put cells where we want them.”

To do that, Bowles and his team worked with Salt Lake City-based company, Carterra, Inc., directed by mechanical engineering professor and chair Bruce Gale, which develops microfluidic devices for medicine. Researchers used a 3-D printer from Carterra typically used to print antibodies for cancer screening applications. But Bowles’ team developed a special printhead for the printer that can lay down human cells in the controlled manner they require. To prove the concept, the team printed out genetically-modified cells that glow a fluorescent color so they can visualize the final product (pictured, below).

Currently, replacement tissue for patients can be harvested from another part of the patient’s body or sometimes from a cadaver, but they may be of poor quality. Spinal discs are complicated structures with bony interfaces that must be recreated to be successfully transplanted. This 3-D-printing technique can solve those problems.

Bowles, who specializes in musculoskeletal research, said the technology currently is designed for creating ligaments, tendons and spinal discs, but “it literally could be used for any type of tissue engineering application,” he says. It also could be applied to the 3-D printing of whole organs, an idea researchers have been studying for years. Bowles also says the technology in the printhead could be adapted for any kind of 3-D printer.

Mechanical Engineering associate professor Bart Raeymaekers and professor Bruce Gale receive $16 million in funding over the next five years from both federal and state governments as well as local industry to develop a new center to help local manufacturing businesses succeed.

One of the hot-button issues this presidential election is about companies outsourcing work overseas and figuring out how to keep manufacturing jobs here in America. To help convince these businesses they can perform better in their own backyard, two University of Utah mechanical engineering professors are establishing a center to show local manufacturing companies how they can spur innovation and utilize the latest in technology.

The new University of Utah Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Center will deliver services for small and medium-sized manufacturing companies by providing expertise in advanced manufacturing technology, innovation, worker education, operational excellence, and on how to connect companies with investor opportunities.

“The goal of the program is to provide these services so businesses can remain competitive against cheap overseas labor and to keep those manufacturing jobs here,” says University of Utah mechanical engineering associate professor Bart Raeymaekers, who along with mechanical engineering professor Bruce Gale are creators of the center and recipients of the grant.

The center, in partnership with other entities and organizations throughout the state, will help local businesses:

• Use data to identify products and markets that are growing and provide resources for the prototyping of new products.
• Implement advanced manufacturing equipment and technology.
• Develop and educate their workforce to use these new technologies.
• Connect with investors and secure government grants to increase funding.
• Learn how to make their operations more efficient to maximize profits.

The University of Utah’s MEP Center will receive funding from the U.S. commerce department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED). All told, the center will receive $16 million in funding over the next five years from both federal and state governments as well as local industry. Utah is one of 11 states and Puerto Rico to have received NIST funding this month for local MEP centers.

The Utah center, which will be under the U’s College of Engineering, will begin operations Oct. 1 and be headquartered on the U campus. It will employ at least a dozen permanent employees, consultants and industry professionals. It will open satellite offices in Cache and Utah counties as well as have consultants in eastern Utah and Cedar City.

There are more than 3,300 manufacturing companies in Utah, ranging in areas from chemical products and computer and electronic products to metals, aerospace equipment and food products, according to publicly available data.

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