UK team to pioneer next-gen health tech for better patient outcomes

Medical devices fail to account for growth, movement, and tissue regeneration or degeneration, leading to compromised functionality and shortened lifespan. Examples include paediatric implants do not grow with the child and must be regularly changed, stoma bags that leak because they do not fully conform to skin folds, and bone implants that do not predictably degrade as surrounding tissues regenerate. 

Backed by £1.2m of UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funding, the three-year Network Plus will focus on delivering improved patient outcomes, reducing healthcare costs, and driving more UK innovation in the medical device sector. 

Funded as part of a wider £10m investment responding to the national report ‘Tomorrow's Engineering Research Challenges’, the project will create a network connecting academics, businesses, clinicians, patients and policymakers. This collaboration will serve as a springboard to create bigger, longer-term research projects. 

In a statement, project lead Birmingham University’s Dr Sophie Cox said: “Our bodies change over time as we grow, move and regenerate, but products designed to replace or repair our bodies typically neglect the dimension of time, compromising their function and lifespan.