Engineering Tissues: Biomaterial Strategies to Prevent Infection and Promote Repair
Professor Andrea O’Connor
Thursday May 6th
Approximately 20 members and guests joined the Zoom gathering for an excellent talk by Engineer Prof Andrea O’Connor. The meeting was opened by the President of the Alumni Ms Ruth Wraith OAM who introduced the speaker.
Professor O’Connor, who is Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Melbourne, talked about several applications of tissue engineering. These included cartilage expansion / replacement for knee injuries, implantation of vascularised fat grown on cryogel scaffolds for cosmetic breast repair / remodelling after mastectomy and replacement tissue for the upper eyelid for use after surgery or injury. The need to prevent infection had led to the production of anti-microbial coating of implant materials.
Most such applications were still in development or awaiting clinical trials and not yet available for clinical use. However, this is a very promising area of bio-engineering and may have many applications in the future, subject to appropriate clinical trials indicating safety and effectiveness.
Discussion was led by the Vice President Prof Jim Wilkinson AM and the meeting closed at 1.00 pm after the President had thanked the speaker for a most stimulating presentation.
A recording of the presentation is available for a period of time: