Health Innovation

Health and the environment

Use the buttons to expand or collapse the section.

• Neurotoxin Monitoring Initiative: Safeguarding Rural Health

  With the aim of understanding whether increased exposure to environmental toxins increases the risk of Motor Neurone Disease in rural communities, this initiative seeks to expand neurotoxin monitoring in inland waters, with a focus on rural communities like Griffith, NSW. Utilising a novel bioindicator model developed by UTS researchers, the project will assess the presence of blue-green algal toxins, heavy metals, and pesticides, and identify how we can mitigate the risks to both communities and the environment posed by these neurotoxins.

Patient care across the life-course

Use the buttons to expand or collapse the section.

• Innovative Treatment for Early Childhood Stuttering

  We’re developing a ground-breaking treatment focusing on cognitive suitability and early intervention for early childhood stuttering that can be initiated at the onset, offering a proactive approach to speech therapy. The project aims to take this ground-breaking approach global, creating a cost-free treatment website for childhood stuttering, making effective therapy accessible to every child and family in need worldwide.

• Breathlessness Intervention: A New Airflow Device to Ease Chronic Symptoms

  This innovative and cross sector collaboration aims to prototype the optimal airflow device (similar to a handheld fan) design to provide relief for chronic breathlessness. Bringing together medical researchers, material designers and innovation experts, it will create an affordable handheld fan that would allow people with chronic breathlessness to be more independent and have improved quality of life.

• Enhancing Medication Management for Dementia Care

  We’re crafting a toolkit for clinicians and carers to improve medication management for those with dementia, promoting informed decisions and better health outcomes. This toolkit will enable clinicians and carers to navigate complex treatment plans, making informed decisions that improve health outcomes and quality of life for those affected by dementia.

Revolutionising diagnosis and treatment

Use the buttons to expand or collapse the section.

• Osteoarthritis Therapy Evolution: Stem Cell Bio-products

  This project represents a first-of-its-kind approach to osteoarthritis treatment, using stem cells to create a custom bio-product for disease-targeting effects. The customised stem cell bio-products resulting from this project will bring us closer to the first cure for osteoarthritis, with potential to introduce a pioneering therapy in the next five years to help 1 in 8 Australians and reduce the $3 billion in annual costs to our nation.

• Lung Cancer EV Innovation: Diagnosis and Treatment

  Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancerrelated deaths worldwide, with 1 in 16 males and 1 in 17 females predicted to develop lung cancer in their lifetime. Critically, over half of all patients die within one year of diagnosis. This project aims to enable the creation of cutting-edge technology for early detection and novel treatment delivery in lung cancer. By understanding the cellular components of lung cancer and engineering them to deliver targeted therapies, this project stands at the forefront of a major breakthrough in cancer care.

• Empowering Chronic Pain Management with Our Recovery Online Community

  Imagine a world where chronic pain management is in the hands of those who live with it. This project is building an empowering online ecosystem for chronic pain sufferers. The web-based platform offers peer support, interactive modules, and access to resources, enabling a community-driven, self-managed approach to chronic pain.

• Cardiac Care Revolution: Personalised 3D Bio printed Heart Patches

  Every ten minutes an Australian has a heart attack. A quarter of these patients will not receive proper treatment in a timely manner and develop heart failure due to irreversible damage to their heart. For patients with end-stage heart failure, the gold standard treatment is a heart transplant. In Australia, around 100 hearts are transplanted every year, whereas approximately 13,000 patients develop heart failure per year. The technology of 3D bio printed stem cell cardiac patches could overcome the shortage of transplantable hearts and the risk of rejection, as well as reducing long recovery times, saving thousands of lives.

Equity and access in health

Use the buttons to expand or collapse the section.

• Alzheimer’s Vaccine Development: Bioengineering Breakthroughs

  This pioneering research aims to bioengineer a vaccine to prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. The development of this vaccine has the potential to offer a safe, affordable, and accessible treatment to reduce the number of people affected by Alzheimer’s across the globe.

• Preeclampsia Diagnostic Advancement: Point of Care Platform

  Preeclampsia is a leading cause of maternal and foetal death and morbidity in pregnancy, with no current cure in sight and limited monitoring strategies. We are developing a state-of-the-art diagnostic tool for early and reliable detection of preeclampsia, aimed at significantly reducing maternal and foetal mortality, especially in remote areas. The proposed technology can provide results in 15 minutes with high sensitivity, promising a revolution in antenatal care globally.

• Birthing on Country: Honouring Indigenous Midwifery Practices

  We’re enriching midwifery education with our ‘Birthing on Country’ program, intertwining cultural traditions with clinical practice for Indigenous students, nurturing a new generation of culturally aware healthcare professionals while ensuring culturally safe healthcare practice.

• Older, Isolated, and Legally Unrepresented: Legal Needs Research

  This project will investigate the legal needs and risks for older Australians who experience social isolation. Laws, policies and practices are often premised on assumptions that older people have trusted family members or friends to act as legal decision-makers in health, financial and personal matters. This project will undertake pioneering research to uncover how many older Australians are legally unrepresented and to understand the impacts of this form of isolation on their legal, health and wellbeing outcomes.