‘Bright’ future for health
Curtin University researcher, Matthew Oldakowski, and his colleagues were named runner up at the 2013 Curtin Commercial Innovation Awards for developing a novel spinal stabilisation implant, named the SZ Device, for use in the cervical spine to treat neck pain.
Curtin University researcher, Matthew Oldakowski, and his colleagues were named runner up at the 2013 Curtin Commercial Innovation Awards for developing a novel spinal stabilisation implant, named the SZ Device, for use in the cervical spine to treat neck pain.
The innovation stands apart from other devices as it maintains some movement in the stabilised spinal segment and, therefore, does not require a bone graft during the fusion procedure.
The Early Research Career Award was presented to Ms Elizabeth Grenik and her team for developing an innovation that addresses chronic wound healing such as diabetic foot ulcers.
The bioactive synthetic hydrogel scaffold can be applied to wounds, not only providing physical support for the wound but also the ability to regenerate tissues with biochemical signals in the same way the body does naturally through its own regeneration scaffold.
“Diabetic foot ulcers are responsible for more hospitalisations than any other complication of diabetes, with current healing techniques including compression bandaging and topical creams not sufficient enough to completely heal the wound,” the researchers said.
The innovation reportedly has the ability to provide complete healing of ulcers and, in turn, may reduce the number of patients needing to be hospitalised.
