Metro North Hospital and Health Service/Twitter
Herston lab 3D printer
Artists impression of a 3D printer in the Herston lab.
A biofabrication institute, which will image, model and manufacture 3D-printed patient-specific tissues, will be opened at a Brisbane health centre in 2017.
Two floors at the Herston Health Precinct will be converted into a space where researchers, engineers, doctors, nurses and scientists will be able to collaborate their knowledge and make informed decisions on how 3D tissues can improve a patient’s quality of life.
The conversion has come about as a result of a partnership between Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Metro North Hospital and Health Service.
Since Queensland is home to some of the biggest biofabrication experts in the world, it is expected around 60 researchers will eventually be employed at the institute. The newly-established departments will work to develop capabilities of advanced medical technologies, including 3D printing and computational medicine.
Australia’s Minister for Health, Cameron Dick believes biofabrication is a way to bring together medicine, science and engineering to find solutions to broken bones and cartilage.
“It will be the first time a biomanufacturing institute will be co-located with a high-level hospital,” said Dick. “Researchers, scientists, nurses and doctors will all be working together to deliver the best outcome for patients. Our vision for healthcare is that the biofabrication institute will pave the way for 3D printers to sit in operating theatres, ready to print tissue as needed, in our hospitals of the future.”
QUT, strong stakeholders in the initiative, and are keen to drive the vision to ensure high quality research, services, training and clinical outcomes. Mia Woodruff, QUT’s Biofabrication and Tissue Morphology Group Leader, directs a team of engineers, physicists biologists, medical doctors, materials scientists and coders towards developing new digitally-enabled technologies. While, creating 3D-printed tissue is a pleasing service to offer the institute’s future patients, Woodruff says the aim has to be to print 3D organs.
The Histology Department at QUT
Prof. Mia Woodruff
Prof. Mia Woodruff
“Organ transplant lists are endless at the moment and we want to be able to help these people,” she said. “We are not going to be able to 3D print an organ tomorrow but what we able to do is bring together the researchers, the clinicians, the patients, the engineers, the intellect and industry partners to be able for us to develop new technology to the level where it can be translated into the clinic.
“This is where you are able to create these artificial organs in the future.”
Cameron Dick added the institute would offer ample opportunity for Australian scientists and clinicians to be employed in this ‘cutting-edge’ research.
“This institute will catapult Queensland onto the global stage as a leader in medical innovation and technology that will change the face of healthcare,” Dick said. “We anticipate that within the next five years, this institute will be attracting $10-15 million in investment each year.”
