March 1, 2025 | Vanessa Caceres
SPOTLIGHT
Research on osteoarthritis pain in horses could provide insights into the same type of pain in humans, according to leaders of a recent University of Florida study.
The research brings together experts from the UF colleges of vet medicine, dentistry and engineering along with the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
The GALLOP (Gait, Activity and Locomotion Links to Osteoarthritic Pain) study will test pain-related behavioral measures in horses as well as how horses perceive pain.
The study will include more than 160 horses that will each have a two-year follow up. Results are slated to be ready in 2029, says Adam Biedrzycki, an associate professor of large animal surgery at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine.
“One limitation in pain research is using animal models like rats and mice, which don’t naturally develop the same pain conditions as humans,” says Yenisel Cruz-Almeida, an associate director of the UF Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence and an associate professor at the UF College of Dentistry.
By studying osteoarthritis in horses, the researchers can better translate their findings to humans. This may help to identify and develop pain biomarkers for human use, Cruz-Almeida adds.
ACQUISITIONS
➤ Emcor Group, a Fortune 500 company based out of Norwalk, Conn., is buying Miller Electric Co. for $865 million. Miller will remain headquartered in Jacksonville, where it started in 1928. Miller Electric CEO Henry Brown said in a news release that by joining forces, the company will be able to enhance its service offerings in the “evolving energy and infrastructure landscape.” The company designs, installs, maintains, upgrades and replaces electrical systems and other technologies across the Southeast and is expected to generate $805 million in revenue in 2024.
EDUCATION
➤ An area near Jacksonville’s Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center in the LaVilla neighborhood has been chosen for the University of Florida’s new graduate center campus in Jacksonville. In addition to other buildings, the campus will include the Florida Semiconductor Institute. Classes are slated to begin by fall of next year.
SUPERCOMPUTERS
➤ UF is investing $24 million in a more advanced version of its HiPerGator supercomputer, an AI supercomputer brought to the school in 2021. UF alumnus Chris Malachowsky, co-founder of NVIDIA, is slated to unveil the upgraded supercomputer on campus in the first half of this year. The use of the supercomputer is part of the school’s ongoing collaboration with NVIDIA.
BANKING
➤ Sterling Bank and Trust of Southfield, Mich., has agreed to sell to Jacksonville’s EverBank. The sale includes 25 California-based Sterling branches as well as a New York location. When the sale is complete, those branches will become EverBank locations. Sterling has more than $3 billion in assets.
➤ The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has appointed Christy Budnick to its Jacksonville Branch board of directors. Budnick is chair of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Network Realty in the Jacksonville area.
MUSEUMS
➤ The Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville will close to visitors starting March 24 so that it can proceed with renovations. It was originally slated to close this past January. The construction will include a 6,000-sq.-ft. addition that will house the University of Florida’s Thompson Earth Systems Institute. The museum is expected to reopen next year.
NONPROFITS
➤ An organization called Florida Avenue Main Street has formed to focus on revitalization in Jacksonville’s Historic Eastside along A. Philip Randolph Boulevard. Nigelle Kohn is executive director of the organization. Florida Avenue Main Street is supported by LIFT JAX and the Historic Eastside Community Development Organization.
HEALTH CARE
➤ Baptist Jacksonville has ongoing expansions to its Chartrand Frisch Family Birth & Newborn Center, including the addition of four maternity exam rooms for evaluation and observation. By September, phase two of the project will include 12 additional labor and delivery rooms for mothers who require care before delivery. The expansions will help address an expected rise in high-risk pregnancies. ➤ Florida Blue has started an oncology care model for members in select locations in cooperation with The Oncology Institute (TCI) and Sanitas Medical Centers. Medical staff at TCI will design personalized, evidence-based treatment plans and partner with Sanitas’ primary care providers to help support each patient.
RAILROADS
➤ Pinsly Railroad has invested about $40 million in capital improvement projects in its Florida Gulf & Atlantic railroad network over the past two years, including 92 road crossings, 13 crossing signal upgrades, 63 bridge rehabs and 169 miles of track upgrades. Federal and state grants helped to pay for about 50% of the improvements.
IN MEMORIAM
“Single-issue politics and ideological politics are destroying this country.”
— Buddy MacKay in a 2010 Icon interview in FLORIDA TREND. MacKay, 91, of Ocala, a longtime Florida lawmaker who briefly served as the state’s 42nd governor upon the death of Lawton Chiles, died on Dec. 31.
Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has chosen Jacksonville as the headquarters for its mortgage and technology division. It will add 500 employees and spend $216 million over a five-year period for building, construction, and equipment improvements. It also will receive a $21-million incentive package from the city of Jacksonville. ICE, which operates the New York Stock Exchange, acquired Jacksonville’s Black Knight mortgage software and data company in 2023.
The University of North Florida has received about $800,000 from the National Park Service to help restore coastlines and battle shoreline erosion at the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve in
Jacksonville, Fort Matanzas National Monument in St. Augustine, and Cumberland Island National
Seashore in Georgia.