MedTech translation: from Research to Manufacturing
Medical technologies play an ever-increasing role in healthcare, with the potential to address numerous unmet clinical needs. With a complex pathway from idea to commercialisation, how can researchers and product developers ensure that their product meets clinical needs, and regulatory approval requirements?
This panel explores how projects can improve their chances of translation into successful products, able to be used to improve patients’ lives. Join our expert panel as they bring perspectives from university, industry, and CSIRO in developing and commercialising MedTech products, with insights on the challenges and success factors from research to manufacturing.
Panellists
Professor Andrea O’Connor (Chair)
Shanahan Chair in Frontier Medical Solutions, Biomedical Engineering, The University of Melbourne
Professor Andrea O’Connor, PhD, FIChemE is the Shanahan Chair in Frontier Medical Solutions and a Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor at the University of Melbourne and the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery. She is a co-Director of the Victorian Medtech Skills and Device Hub and leads the Tissue Engineering Group in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Her research focuses on design, synthesis and fabrication of biomaterials, development of antimicrobial nanomaterials, and scale-up of tissue engineering. She teaches biomedical engineering subjects including Tissue Engineering and Stem Cells. Prof. O’Connor collaborates with clinicians, scientists, hospitals, medical research institutes and medical device companies to address clinical problems.
Mr Andrew Batty
Chief Executive Officer, Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD)
Andrew is a MedTech executive with over 25-years’ experience in the healthcare sector where he’s developed, executed, and managed business strategies and companies to commercialise innovative and emerging technologies. Andrew has worked in Sales, Marketing, Business Development, Clinical Operations and Management with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Andrew has launched private and ASX listed companies including CogState, IM Medical, and Anatomics, establishing exits, manufacturing agreements and global distribution channels. Andrew is the Director and founder of Lincoln Consulting Group (Wonderland Medical) assisting businesses, at start-up, SME or corporate level to design, plan and implement commercial strategies. He was a Partner at Templar Capital Group raising local and foreign investment for Australian companies.
More recently, he has launched several local MedTech companies including VividWhite developing a microfluidic implant for glaucoma, iFix Medical developing a topical medicate for corneal repair, Morand Medical in the field of the tissue engineering and NeuroInsights recording brain activity for neurological conditions.
Andrew has a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Commerce, serves as a Director on several company boards, is the past chair of the University of Melbourne IAG for Biomedical engineering and is currently the interim CEO at the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery.
Associate Professor David Collins
Biomedical Engineering, The University of Melbourne
David is a Senior Lecturer in the Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of Melbourne. His research interests are in developing systems for advanced bioprinting, using novel micromanipulation methods to span the length scales from the single-cell environment to the macro-scale structure.
David has expertise in integrated actuation methods in microfluidic systems, with applications for pattering and sorting of microspecimens. He is engaged in collaborations across four continents.
Ongoing Research Projects Include:
3D Bioprinting - Engineering the single cell microenvironment
Bioprocess Engineering - High throughput micro-scale separations science
Disease on a Chip models - blood brain barrier on a chip systems for studies of neurodegenerative disorders
See www.davidjohncollins.com for Dr. Collins' personal webpage
Dr Tim Hughes
CSIRO Manufacturing, Australia
Dr Timothy Hughes is a Senior Principal Research Scientist and Team Leader (Biomedical Polymers) at CSIRO. His work focuses on the design and synthesis of polymeric materials designed for specific biomedical applications. In particular, Dr Hughes’ expertise is in the field of polymeric biomaterials (hydrogels, fluoropolymers, polysiloxanes, biopolymers), 3D printing, medical devices, nanomaterial hybrids, and various self-assembly systems. He completed his PhD in synthetic organic chemistry at Monash University in 1997. He has successfully led a series of commercially focused industrial projects as well as a number of student projects covering a wide range of areas including ocular devices, surgical/tissue adhesives, drug delivery systems, cell therapies (cell encapsulation devices), medical imaging contrast agents and polymer 3D printing to deliver scientific impacts and commercial outcomes. His team works closely with companies within the biomedical industry to solve real world problems. He has published over 60 journal papers, and is co-inventor on 22 patents. He has been co-awarded several accolades for his work including the 2004 Eureka Award for Interdisciplinary Research and the 2009 and 2012 CSIRO Medals for Research Achievement.
Presented by MedTech, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.