Biomedical Engineering

Greg Bashford’s expertise spans more than 25 years in diagnostic ultrasound, bioimaging, and biosignal analysis, with a focus on developing innovative medical imaging technologies for clinical applications. His research involves cerebral blood flow measurement, health monitoring and medical device development. He holds more than 25 patents related to medical device innovation and has played leading roles at ultrasound and biotechnology companies to help bring academic research into the real world. He received the 2022 NUTech Ventures Breakthrough Innovation of the Year award for his portable transcranial ultrasound technology, a device that could transform medicine by predicting Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms become evident or better monitor stroke patients’ outcomes. In 2024, Bashford and his Nebraska colleagues developed a groundbreaking wearable ultrasound prototype that demonstrated its capability to measure cerebral blood flow in emergency situations, highlighting its potential as a diagnostic tool. A professor of biomedical engineering, Bashford is chair of the biomedical engineering graduate program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. (Updated November 2024.)

Angela Pannier focuses on engineering biomaterials and systems for gene/cell therapies and tissue engineering. Her projects range from biomedical engineering to agricultural applications. Her research program has received support from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as industry sponsors. Pannier is an associate editor for Science Advances, the multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as serving on the editorial boards of Regenerative Medicine Frontiers and Experiemental Biology and Medicine academic journals. She also serves as a reviewer for multiple journals and funding agencies. She is active in the American INstitute of chemical Engineers, Biomedical Engineering Society and the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. She has been recognized with the NIH Director's New Innovator Award in 2017, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the White House Office of Technology and Science Policy in 2019. She became a fellow with the BMES in 2020. She is the only Nebraskan to have received those honors. Panier is committed to developing the next generation of scientists, having received several awards for her mentorship of postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and undergraduate students. As an award-winning teacher, she has focused on developing biomedical engineering content for undergraduate and graduate-level students in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering. In 2020-21, Pannier was co-leader of a COVID-19 vaccine outreach campaign. She was recognized with the College of Engineering Faculty Service Award for her service work on campus and in the community. (Updated December 2024.)