Successful Partnerships

Rapid results from research to recipients

To the lay person, a biomedical engineering lab sounds like somewhere a strawberry might be crossed with a goat. But to the staff at the new Medical Engineering Research Facility (MERF) at The Prince Charles Hospital, it’s more about mechanics than manipulation.

Professor Mark Pearcy heads the facility, which is jointly owned by The Prince Charles Hospital and Queensland University of Technology. A Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Dr Pearcy oversees the range of research projects at the centre together with Chair of Orthopaedic Research Dr Ross Crawford. The projects include the development of an effective ventilation system for premature babies, and new materials for joint replacements and repairs.

Patients will benefit from the partnership between the hospital and the university as the MERF will provide timely research solutions for problems encountered by doctors, as well as offering up to the minute skills training for medical staff.

The centre has labs dedicated for histology (where bone and cartilage will be replicated to use in grafts), materials testing (to test how well prosthetics materials will stand up to being stood on), a preparation room, a general lab, a tools workshop (for finetuning and customising instruments) and a lab currently set up for the neonatal ventilation project.

The centre is also waiting for a grant to complete a micro CT room where very detailed images can be taken of bones and bone structure.

Downstairs, there is a surgical suite and an anatomical skills workshop. Much of the equipment in the facility has been donated, either decommissioned from hospitals, such as x-ray machines, or new from companies such as Stryker who provided high quality surgical lighting. All surgical tools used in the facility are new.

The centre can host up to 15 researchers in the labs at a time, with desk facilities for 10 people working on MERF projects. In addition to the labs the MERF has a seminar room, which can take a live feed from the operating theatre downstairs so students can watch procedures. There is a future plan to broadcast via satellite as new technology is tested, to share local expertise with the international medical world.