Programs linking biology and engineering at the University of California, Davis, are growing with the creation of a new division of biomedical engineering. Already, 60 students and 40 faculty members participate in the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Group, concentrating primarily on courses and research in biomechanics. With the addition of the new division, those research and academic programs in biomedical engineering will be greatly expanded. New areas under development include cellular and molecular mechanics, biological and medical imaging, and biological microsystems. Also, an undergraduate program in biomedical engineering will be administered by the new division. By 2006, the division expects to have 14 full-time faculty members and to be housed in the planned Genomics and Biomedical Sciences Building. An application to advance the division to department status will be filed this year. Biomedical engineering is the application of engineering principles to medical problems. UC Davis is particularly well suited for teaching and research in the field, with so many related programs right at hand, including the schools of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, the Center for Comparative Medicine, UC Davis Medical Center, extensive programs in the life sciences and, of course, the College of Engineering. "Around the country, there are about 80 similar departments, but very few have the range of resources we have here at Davis," said the inaugural chair of the division, Professor Katherine Ferrara. "We have the opportunity to build a leading program."