Author: Rosa Armitage

At the ITTC for Joint Biomechanics, all of our team have the opportunity to spend time on the ground at our industry partner Greenslopes Private Hospital and at Dr Ken Cutbush’s  clinic at Brisbane private Hospital to better understand the clinical environment in which new technologies are implemented.

Dr Gupta and his team are leading the way in developing and applying modelling and visualisation technologies to pre-operative planning and clinical decision-making. Seeing the hands-on use of 3D models, and HoloLens 2 technology in the operating theatre to get real-time insight into graft and implant placement was eye-opening!

On the 10th of October our operations team consisting of our Centre Manager Ms Maddie McIntyre and Centre Administration Officer, Miss Rosa Armitage visited Dr Ashish Gupta’s Greenslopes Private Hospital clinic to observe two shoulder arthroplasty surgeries performed by Dr Ashish Gupta and his surgical fellow Roberto Pareyon.

Similarly on the 8th of November, our students Miss Yuyao (Amy) Ma (PhD, based at the The University of Queensland) and visiting MSc student Mr Andrea Sgarzi (from the Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna) had a wonderful experience in theatre with one of our key clinical leaders Dr. Kenneth Cutbush and surgeon Dr. Freek Hollman at Brisbane Private Hospital.

The Experience highlighted for them what happens in real practice and how the clinical context, challenges, and opportunities can best inform their research going forward. Amy and Andrea highly recommended the observation experience to all those visiting the centre to gain multi-disciplinary insight into multiple arthroscopic procedures and reverse total shoulder replacements.

Sounds like a truly engaging opportunity going beyond computer models to the engaging world of surgery and applied biomedical engineering. As we are drivers of translational research for the orthopaedics industry, we are uniquely situated to offer such developmental activities with aims to expand upon such opportunities in 2023.

Dr Ashish Gupta using the HoloLens 2 VR technology headset to view a patient’s humeral head. 

On November 8th 2022, the team presented their preliminary seed grant pitches and further refined how to make a convincing and compelling story for the judges at our upcoming 2022 Research Symposium.

As presented by centre CI and Director of the QUT Centre for Robotics (acting) from the School of Electrical Engineering & Robotics, Prof. Michael Milford worked with our collaborative teams to become proficient at refining their pitches in all sorts of ways.

Prof. Milford was very supportive and encourageing bringing humour, fun, and expertise to the role to allow our team members to try their pitches for the first time and to practice in front of their peers.

When it comes to developing a grant or research project pitch, each misstep is an opportunity to rapidly refine how to tell a more compelling story and to articulate what you are aiming to do in a convincing manner.

Prof. Milford’s advice for anyone preparing a grant or research pitch is to reflect on the following questions:

– Can you define specifically what you’re proposing to do?

– Can you define it even more specifically?

– Can you define it even more more-more-more specifically (you get the gist)?

– Why should we care? Why should an expert care? Why should someone from the public care?

– List all the things you’re *not* doing in this proposal, what’s out of scope, where you simply using off-the-shelf techniques / theory / equipment etc… as why that’s not the focus

– List all the concrete outcomes of the proposal, and why and who they matter to

– Talk about why QUT / your uni / the ITTC for Joint Biomechanics is the best place to do this work

– Attempt a rough answer to the super hard question of “if this is important, why hasn’t it been solved already?” – there are lots of answers including new techniques, new emerging problem, unique research environment, etc. etc. etc.

– Talk about what the eventual (not within the scope of this proposal itself) amazing things this work could enable – painting a compelling picture

– What are the specific things you’ll achieve in this proposal that might (eventually) lead to that eventual amazing outcome?

– Talk about how your team expertise and background suits the proposed program of work

– How does this fit into any larger programs of research, and is it critically reliant on any other people / programs?

– Talk about how this project will set you up career wise for your next steps (experience, grant leadership experience etc…) How does this help you, beyond having it on your CV?

– You have half the budget and timeline. How do you adjust your proposal?

– You have double the budget and timeline. How do you adjust your proposal?

After the team practiced different pitch approaches from leading with a new technique or a problem-based approach, with Dr Wolbert van den Hoorn, Mr Maxence Lavaill, Dr Laith Alzubaidi, and Dr Bart Bolsterlee leading the way, Michael asked some tough questions and provided some extension exercises.

– If the problem is so important, why hasn’t it already been solved?

– What makes your team unique or special to solve the problem?

– How would you refine your pitch for a different audience?

Ample positive feedback was given, particularly from the phd cohort on just how useful these sessions have been. We can’t thank Michael enough for your expertise in this realm, and look forward to seeing the final products of all the team’s hard work at the Research Symposium scheduled for 25th November 2022.

Yesterday our PhD students, Postdocs, and program leads visited the newly opened Stryker R&D Lab at the Herston Health Precinct.

Stryker is one of a valued industry partners, with the new R&D lab a unique facility for Stryker globally being located at the ‘point of care’ on the Metro North campus. The lab is a collaboration between The Queensland University of Technology (QUT), The University of Queensland (UQ), Metro North Hospital and Health Service, Queensland Health and Stryker.

The R&D  lab will focus on 4 areas of research: Digital Health (managed by Mark Luhovy, MD), Enabling technologies (managed by Jenna Lyon, Robotics (managed by Tom Williamson), and Additive Manufacturing (managed by Conor Kelleher). After a warm and informative welcome from each research manager, our program leads presented their projects and discussed further research pathways with the Stryker team.

Stryker collaborates with the ARC Training Centre for Joint Biomechanics across a range of projects, namely our computer modelling used as the basis for surgical planning software, tools for guidance and navigation in orthopaedic surgery, and virtual reality tools. As the mission of ARC Training Centre for Joint Biomechanics is to transform and translate biomechanical education using multisector collaboration and industry partnerships to empower future scientists, the R & D lab is an extraordinary partnership that will drive new developments in device technology. With the first of many visits completed, the centre is looking to promote further PhD student placements and visits to ensure our work remains deeply embedded and at the forefront of emerging advancements in biotechnologies.

Attending members of the centre (Prof. Peter Pivonka (QUT), Prof. Graham Kerr (QUT) Ms Maddie McIntyre (ITTC-JB Centre Manager), Prof. Justin Cooper-White (UQ), Mr Xiaolong Fan (QUT), Mr Max Lavaill (QUT), Mr Arun Jolly (QUT), Mr Ahmed Sewify (QUT), Dr Eleonore Bolle (UQ), Miss Asawari Parulekar (UQ), Miss Sepideh Shemshad (UQ), Dr Wolbert van den Hoorn (UQ), Miss Natali Uribe (UQ), and Dr Nicholas Green (Herston Biofabrication Institute – HBI)), expressed their eagerness to continue close working ties and the possibilities for future industry driven projects.

With the centre at the half-way point of its’ lifetime, further research developments will be announced with the lab, with several Stryker members remaining core to driving the direction of the centre with Ms Jenna Lyon (Enabling technologies manger) the newest addition to the Industry Advisory Committee (IAC).

Congratulations to our centre PhD student Mr. Maxence Lavaill who presented their work entitled “Simulation of the Latarjet procedure for muscular assessment of shoulder stability” at the 47th congress of the “Société de Biomécanique,” the French-speaking society of biomechanics.

Jointly organized by the Society of Biomechanics, the and the Tunisian Association for the Promotion of Applied Research, the 47th congress of the Society of Biomechanics took place from October 26 to 28, 2022 in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine, University of Monastir – Tunisia.

The congress will take place at the Hotel Iberostar Selection Kuriat Palace Monastir -Tunisia with tis year’s proceedings focusing largely on the themes of ‘ Biomechanics of musculoskeletal disorders’ and ‘ Biomechanics and Artificial Intelligence.’

Max is a PhD student supervised by Prof. Peter Pivonka as part of the centre’s Program 1: In silico upper extremity modelling and simulation. His research is dedicated to investigating on patient-specific features of shoulder using MSK modelling. His expertise is in the analysis of soft tissues actions implied in shoulder stability and motion. Computational modelling as well as human kinematics and EMG recordings are the key tools he works with. His project focuses on studying the influence of patient-specific modelling features on the joint simulations.

Well done on another excellent presentation of your intriguing PhD research on the world stage!

On Tuesday 25th October, our program leads delivered a fantastic workshop to facilitate the development of competitive and innovative seed funding grant applications for our 2022 centre scheme.

As an Australian Research Council (ARC) Industrial Transformation Training Centre, one of our key purposes is to provide industry specific training to prepare the future workforce in the fields of joint biomechanics and orthopaedic surgery. The seed grant scheme was formulated to support the development of our researchers and to provide future research opportunities for them to apply for large grants, as well as to foster collaboration between our 4 program streams to harness our well-established network of investigators and partners across industry, academic, and the clinical orthopaedic setting. Our leadership team delivered the following advice to all grant applicants, whether they might be a PhD student, ECR, or mid-career researcher:

Prof. Lynne Bilston highlighted the importance of not limiting yourself to what you do, but to formulate the best project idea to attract the right team to get the job done. She provided the following tips:

1.Get your message across at the start

Define what problem you are trying to solve and provide an executive summary on the first page of the application. Describe why the problem, gap, or limitation is significant, and describe what your project will do to address it. Ensure you provide adequate aims and key methods, as well as to highlight the innovative or niche aspects of the project and why your team is the best to do the work.

2. Directly address the selection criteria 

3. Use the best possible study design and methods 

Justify your choice of methods and include a statistical analysis or plan. Include pilot data to prove feasibility and ensure aims are consistent with the research plan and outcome measures. DO NOT oversimplify, ignore potential problems or confounders (say how you will manage them), or exaggerate.

4. Clearly state the outcome and significance

Define what your project will achieve such as new knowledge, new methods, the project outcomes and the overall benefit to society.

5. Be concise, concrete and clear 

Know your audience (assessors and panel). Keep your language simple and logical for non-specialist panel members and avoid generalisations or hype.

6. Don’t take an unsuccessful application as a failure 

As little as 10% of grant applications are successful depending on the round, so always ask for feedback and apply this for the next submission. Always seek feedback from your peers and mentors for additional insight into how to improve in the future.

Prof. Graham Kerr focused on building the best team based on diversity and the valuable contribution of each member. He shared his tips where grant titles should be in active tense and succinct. When building your team, ensure you have real expertise and real contributors, not just those added due to exceptional track records. The structure of the grant is imperative. Bear the aims in mind and focus each section to persuade the reader that this is the best idea, best team, best project, and achievable.

Prof. Justin Cooper-White emphasised openness towards new collaborations and adaptability to new ideas that inspire, even if the project scope is not what was initially envisioned. He provided the following tips:

1.Define your project (scope) 

Keep your idea radar on. Attend conferences, read widely and deeply. Connect with like-minded people. Back up your idea with a literature/gap analysis

2. Form your team 

Consider what expertise you have and don’t have. Seek recommendations and electronic introductions from advisors and mentors. Have a loose framework to present and be open to new ideas and changes that will ultimately improve your application.

3. Plan and source necessary resources 

Define your hypothesis and aim. Define your experimental objectives. Seek advice and use your network.

4. Formulate your budget 

Use guidelines always. Don’t inflate – assume budget cuts. Justify your requests with detail and a solid rationale.

5. Mange your time 

Grant writing takes time, so start your concept early. Distribute workloads across the team. Allow one person to re-write the final version.

6. Manage your expectations 

Outline at the start. Ensure everyone is aware of how funds will be spent and distributed. Make commitments and contributions and be prepared to resolve conflicts when they arise.

The centre thanks our Program Leaders for sharing their expertise with the team. We look forward to viewing the final written grant submissions on October 18, 2022.

The ARC-ITTC in Joint Biomechanics welcomed 6 High school students to the centre as part of the STEM Research Internship Program under The QUT Future You STEM Summit  from September 27 to 30 at QUT’s Gardens Point campus.   

Hosted by PhD student, Mr Maxence Lavaill and Post-doc Dr Wolly can den Hoorn, students participated in several hands-on workshops and activities based on the various technologies and techniques used to analyse and investigate joint biomechanics and joint function including dry EEG methods, image processing software, robotics, ultrasound and musculoskeletal modelling used at the centre to develop personalised patient outcomes and transform the orthopaedic industry.

Students further gained valuable insight into how a research centre functions and began to develop a network of like-minded peers as part of their 4-day enrichment activities, including total immersion into the activities of the ITTC’s various research groups with attendance to internal research team meetings and visits to lab groups to engage with current in-silico models and scanners. 

The annual program is a fantastic way for grade 11 and 12 students to be exposed to the exciting and diverse world of SGTEM, and to begin the journey of discovering what their own future career might look like. As described the the QUT STEM High School Engagement Program Manager Simone Long, the summit traditionally attracts high achievers who are smart, motivated and already have interest in STEM. 

“We know from past experience that many of these students already know they want to pursue STEM courses at university. The summit gives them experiences and insights that can help them refine specific areas of study and career paths.”

The rigorous program develops student’s technical, leadership and critical thinking skills through a suite of on-campus practical learning, professional development and external assessment. As an intern, students will get the chance to undertake collaborative, group STEM research projects, led by QUT STEM experts and linked to real-world research and industry challenges. 

As one of the key aims of the ARC-ITTCs is to develop future leaders and build capacity through training, education, and mentoring of interdisciplinary research staff and students. The internship program strongly aligns with the centre;’s goals to empower future scientists, particularly in the fields of biomedical technology and personalised patient care. 

After exposure to various centre team meetings, scientific talks from current PhD student Alex Lee-Medland, Affiliate PhD student (QUASR-Herston Biofabrication Institute): “Multi-modal assessment of humeral head bone quality with implications for shoulder arthroscopy” (15′), and surgical fellow Dr Roberto Pareyon “The journey to the onlay grammot” (30′) and time spent in the various labs, the team were suitably impressed with the insight and enthusiasm shown by the students.

We wish them all the best for their future studies and chosen career pathways. 

On 23 September, 2022, valued Industry Partner Stryker, a Michigan, US-based medtech company, in partnership with QUT (Queensland University of Technology), The University of Queensland, the Queensland Government, and Metro North Health, officially opened the Stryker R&D Lab at the Herston Health Precinct in Brisbane today.

It was a pleasure for our Centre to attend and celebrate this significant milestone for medical innovation in Queensland.

Centre Director, Prof. Yuantong Gu and Centre Manager, Ms Maddie McIntyre attended the prestigious opening which is a landmark for Brisbane and places us at the forefront of biomedical and biotechnology innovation on the global stage.

Guest speakers Maurice Ben-Mayor, Kevin Lobo, Professor Deborah Terry, Prof Margaret Sheil AO, and Hon. Yvette D’Ath – Minister for Health & Ambulance Services acknowledged the profound impact this collaborative partnership and ecosystem will have on the advancement of technologies and #personalizedhealthcare while creating a unique opportunity for the next generation workforce right here in Queensland.

Through a focus on engineer-clinician collaboration in digital health, robotics, and personalised surgical planning we are excited to work closely with the R&D Lab over the coming years, with further visits from the centre to come.

Read more here.

Materialise are one of our key partners providing access to cutting edge technology in the medical device and pre-operative planning spaces, particularly with the use of their 3D planning software the ‘Mimics Innovation Suite.’

Thank-you to Ms Monica Russell (Medical Account Manager) & Mr Michael Mathews (Materialise Medical – Sales and Business Development Manager – ANZ) for organising the visit and joining us at QUT. Our partnership is a cornerstone in our vision to transform personalised surgical treatment of joints through integrated technologies of computer tools for pre-surgical planning and decision making, the computer simulation system and robot simulators for surgical training and medical device assessment, and post-surgical assessment tools.

By bringing together leading researchers, industry partners like Materialise and end-users, we continue to succeed in our mission to  train a new generation of interdisciplinary and skilled graduates to tackle industry-focused challenges in joint biomechanics.

Congratulations to our post-doctoral fellow Dr Laith Alzubaidi who on 9 September 2022 was awarded a Société Européenne pour la Chirurgie de l’Epaule et du Coude and European Society for Surgery of the Shoulder and Elbow (SECEC-ESSSE) basic science grant to conduct research into ‘Quantitative Deep learning model for muscle assessment of the rotator cuff on MRI’.

The 30th SECEC-ESSE Congress was held in Ireland this year, with aims to foster ‘scientific cooperation and continuing training of European orthopaedic surgeons specialized in surgery of the shoulder and elbow’ as described on the conference website.

Dr Alzubaidi winning submission asks the question, ‘can we predict the rotator cuffs regenerative capacity and improve clinical decision making?’ where he will collaborate with Dr Freek Hollman (QUASR), Dr Ashish Gupta (QUASR), Prof Yuantong Gu (QUT), Dr Asma Salhi, Ruth Delaney, and A/Prof. Kenneth Cutbush.

This marks another milestone achievement for Dr. Alzubaidi and the Centre for Joint Biomechanics as our research impact makes a presence in Europe.

Congratulations again on this landmark achievement.