Advance Queensland boosts key medical research projects

An innovative Queensland research program aims to design semi-autonomous robots that could transform arthroscopic knee surgery and dramatically cut the risks of unintentional damage during the procedure.

Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy Leeanne Enoch said today (Friday) Advance Queensland Research Fellowship funding for Queensland University of Technology’s Dr Anjali Jaiprakash will support the development of revolutionary robotic technology for arthroscopic knee procedures.

Ms Enoch said the new technology would reduce the risk of unintended damage to patients, and reduce possible complications for surgeons.

“The researchers are working towards building a robotic leg-holding device that will make the procedure easier for surgeons,” Ms Enoch said.

“With four million knee arthroscopies performed around the world each year, the Palaszczuk Government is backing Queensland-made technology that will benefit not only people around the state, but has enormous global potential.”

Dr Jaiprakash said a research study published this year in the Journal of Orthopedic Surgery found most surgeons would be prepared to use robotic tools if they could be shown to help in the surgery and reduce the risks of injury to patients.

“Surgeons are at their physical and mental limits with this procedure,” she said. “Our aim is to give surgeons semi-autonomous robotic tools so they can concentrate on what they are best at – deciding what is wrong with the patient and how to treat it.”

Dr Jaiprakash said her device for use in knee arthroscopy was just one example of the many ways robotics was set to transform hospitals and medical treatment around the world.

“We embrace novel robotic vision technologies with a transdisciplinary approach to develop medical devices,” Dr Jaiprakash said.

“With the Advance Queensland funding ($180,000), we are studying the surgical process and the way the patient needs to be moved in order to come up with a robotic system that helps the surgeons and improves the outcome of the procedure that can often result in unintentional damage to cartilage.”

The robotic surgical device is one of several research projects developing revolutionary medical technology and tools, funded under the $420 million whole-of-government Advance Queensland program.

“The Advance Queensland Research Fellowship program has provided more than $20 million in funding for some of Queensland’s biggest health, food security and energy challenges to be tackled by Queensland scientists and researchers,” Ms Enoch said.

“The projects will have a range of benefits, from enabling doctors to make early diagnoses of neurodevelopmental problems in premature babies to creating a new surgical planning tool that will enable neurosurgeons to analyse MRI scans and plot critical wiring paths of a patient’s brain.”

Another funding recipient is Advance Queensland Research Fellow Dr Philip Mosley, a psychiatrist at St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital and a researcher at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute who has been awarded $180,000.

Dr Mosley, who is working on eliminating the psychiatric side effects of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) treatment, which is an important advanced therapy for people with Parkinson’s disease, said the Advance Queensland funding had enabled his project to acquire state-of-the-art brain imaging on all surgical candidates before the operation to insert the DBS electrodes.

“We’ve used the technology at the Herston Imaging Research Facility to reconstruct the connections between key regions of the brain that are implicated in psychiatric symptoms such as mood changes and impulsive decision-making,” Dr Mosley said.

“Such symptoms arise in approximately 10 per cent of patients and can be distressing or harmful for patients and their families. We’ve discovered that the connectivity of the brain prior to DBS can help to predict the evolution of these post-operative psychiatric symptoms.

“Importantly, through refining electrode targeting and stimulation, we anticipate that our research will reduce the occurrence of these side-effects, which will reduce suffering and harm experienced by a proportion of patients.”

The Advance Queensland initiative has backed 1650 innovators whose projects are driving 4821 jobs, and has leveraged more than $130 million in investment from program partners including universities, industry, venture capitalists and community groups.

For more information about the Advance Queensland Research Fellowships visit the Advance Queensland website.

ENDS

MEDIA 0412 393 909