Bone implants poised for hi-tech overhaul

The orthopaedic and maxillofacial implant industry is set to be transformed by a new $4m centre that will focus on developing innovative implants and surgeries, and accelerating the transition of research into industry application.

Flinders University, through Professor Mark Taylor, Dr Saulo Martelli and Professor Karen Reynolds at the Tonsley-based Medical Device Research Institute, has joined a select group of Australian universities to partner on the new ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Medical Implant Technologies that was announced recently in the 2018 round of ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centres.

The new centre will bring together renowned scientists, engineers and clinicians from universities and hospitals that are leaders in medical research – uniting them with industry leaders from Australia, China, Israel, the UK and the US to transition research and development into cutting-edge, personalised application.

It will train a new generation of interdisciplinary engineers through a dynamic learning environment, with new networks and international collaborations facilitated to help produce industry-ready researchers.

Advances in materials and new time-saving procedures are expected to result in cost reductions for the sector.

Flinders joins a handful of leading medical universities on the initiative, including the University of Melbourne and Griffith University, and will receive around $1m of the $4m total ARC funding to be provided over the next four years.

The Australian Government’s Industrial Transformation Training Centres scheme is an initiative to foster partnerships between university-based researchers and other research end-users to provide innovative Higher Degree by Research and postdoctoral training for research industries that are deemed as priority areas for Australia’s future.

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