The medical industry is becoming increasingly reliant on advanced manufacturing for the development of smarter systems, smaller devices, and better patient care. The University of South Australia (UniSA) is helping the industry to grow its manufacturing capabilities.
How UniSA uses advanced manufacturing to improve medical devices
The mining, defence, and automotive industries all require enhanced manufacturing technologies. So too does the medical industry, which is becoming increasingly reliant on advanced manufacturing for the development of smarter systems, smaller devices, and better patient care.
The University of South Australia (UniSA) helps to grow manufacturing capabilities for businesses in a variety of sectors, including the medical and health industry.
Central to these industry partnerships is UniSA’s Future Industries Institute – an internationally recognised research institute of specialist researchers, facilities, and equipment.
Deputy Director, Professor Allison Cowin, says the institute is an industry leader when it comes to building and implementing new medical and biomedical technologies.
“At UniSA, we’re able to develop and implement new diagnostics and biomaterials technologies, as well as nanotechnology and multi-layer thin film coating systems,” Professor Cowin says.
“Our partners also leverage UniSA’s capabilities in additive manufacturing, and the design, fabrication and testing of microfluidic devices.”
UniSA works with more than 2500 industry partners, and one of these partners is medtech company TekCyte.
TekCyte CEO Dr Tony Simula says the collaboration with UniSA has allowed the company to rapidly develop its drug-free medical device coating to a point that it is now “ready for commercial manufacturing.”
“We have been able to draw on the capabilities of UniSA, and its Future Industries Institute, to gain unparalleled access to research, multidisciplinary expertise and state-of-the-art facilities,” Dr Simula says.
“Our continued collaboration with UniSA has allowed TekCyte to improve the process for applying the unique device coating, called BIOINVISIBLE™, to a variety of implantable medical devices, like catheters, orthopaedic implants and stents.
“Ultimately, BIOINVISIBLE™ could curb global rates of biofilm and infection from implanted devices and potentially save thousands of lives each year.
“To make that possible, TekCyte in collaboration with the Industry Commercialisation Agency, is now seeking expressions of interest of investment in funding the expansion of its coating development operations.”
The success story of TekCyte is a testament to the power of collaboration between industry and universities.
UniSA is dedicated to supporting the growth of businesses and industries through research collaborations. Connect with UniSA’s Enterprise Hub to discover more about how your business can benefit from UniSA’s experts, research, facilities, and technology: unisa.edu.au/enterprisehub