Flinders team joins new centre for medical implant tech

Biomedical engineers from Flinders University will join a new research centre for medical implant technologies. The Australian Research Council Training Centre for Medical Implant Technologies (ARC CMIT) will create a series of PhD research positions to join an innovative team at Flinders led by Strategic Professor of Biomedical Engineering Professor Mark Taylor.

The new centre will specialise in personalised orthopaedic and maxillofacial solutions and provide training for PhD students and early-career researchers to engage with industry and clinical partners.

Professor Taylor said Flinders University is one of four research nodes of the ARC CMIT, led by The University of Melbourne, with Griffith University and Epworth HealthCare.

“The Flinders Medical Device Research Institute (MDRI) is a leader in computational and experimental biomechanics, working closely with industry and other research organisations in the development of personalised models, virtual clinical trials and decision support,” he said.

“We are pleased to be a partner in the ARC CMIT, to share our expertise and develop the next generation of experts.”

Professor Taylor and other MDRI researchers are pioneering the development and application of tools that are capable of accounting for patient and surgical variability, providing greater understanding of the performance of an implant, which ultimately leads to safer implants with improved longevity. These techniques form the basis for virtual clinical trials.

“The MDRI has strong links to industry and the clinical community and strive to provide a supportive, encouraging environment for our PhD students and early-career researchers, so this really is a great fit,” Professor Taylor said.

“The ARC CMIT will provide more opportunities to make a positive impact on the industry, and we look forward to working with our partners to see this come to fruition,” he said.

ARC CMIT Director Professor Peter Lee from the Melbourne University School of Engineering said the centre brings together 18 partners including biomedical engineers, scientists from various disciplines and clinicians — including early-career researchers and PhDs — with government, hospital and medical implant global supply chain providers to create the world’s best practices and implant solutions.

“The training centre will equip a new generation of engineers to work with clinicians, to have a good understanding of regulations and gain experience in entrepreneurship and innovation,” Professor Lee said.

“Compared to other Australian industries, med-tech is young, so the opportunity for research and development is great.

“CMIT is one of the largest partnerships of industry, hospitals and universities; an ideal environment for training.”

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