Prof Fergal O’Brien is an engineer who spends his days teaching human anatomy to medical students and postgraduate surgeons. Throughout his career, he has continually bridged the fields of engineering, medicine and science. A mechanical engineering graduate who conducted his PhD research in the area of bone mechanobiology, Prof O’Brien went on to carry out postdoctoral research in orthopaedic tissue engineering, working with the engineering school at Massachusetts Institute of ...

  A team led by researchers at Tufts University School of Engineering in Massachusetts and the University of Pavia in Lombardy, Italy, has reported development of the first three-dimensional tissue system that reproduces the complex structure and physiology of human bone marrow and successfully generates functional human platelets. Using a biomaterial matrix of porous silk, the new system is capable of producing platelets for future clinical use and also provides a laboratory tissue ...

From joint replacements to cardiac implants and dialysis machines, medical devices enhance or save lives on a daily basis. However, any device implanted in the body or in contact with flowing blood faces two critical challenges that can threaten the life of the patient the device is meant to help: blood clotting and bacterial infection. A team of Harvard engineers and scientists may have a solution. They have developed a new surface coating for medical devices using materials already ...

A bioengineering professor from the University of Texas at Dallas has applied robot-control theory to enable powered prosthetics to dynamically respond to the wearer's environment and help amputees to walk. In research available online and in an upcoming print issue of IEEE Transactions on Robotics, wearers of the robotic leg could walk on a moving treadmill almost as fast as an able-bodied person. "We borrowed from robot control theory to create a simple, effective new way to ...

  In April 2014, Ethicon Biosurgery, part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, announced plans to invest €80 million in a manufacturing facility at the National Technology Park, Limerick. The new facility will manufacture EVARREST Sealant Matrix, a product that rapidly and reliably aids in stopping bleeding during surgery. The existing building was originally built in 2001 by Optech Europe. In 2008, Johnson and Johnson purchased the facility. LEED: Sustainable Development ...

  Singapore is one of Asia’s fastest-growing ‘bio-clusters’. It boasts several research institutes comprising corporate laboratories, public hospitals and the world-renowned A*STAR laboratories, all presenting valuable opportunities for the development of new medicines and future therapies that can be tailored to the needs of regional and global markets. Singapore is home to more than 30 of the world’s leading biomedical sciences companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Pfizer ...