The human body is a network of many diverse and specialised systems, ideally all functioning cooperatively and effectively like a well-maintained machine. But it is external machines and devices that are relied on more and more to restore the body’s health when serious illness strikes.

Such medical devices often need to be just as complex as their biological counterparts, so their development has to lean on a wide range of scientific disciplines and skills. CSIRO, with its multidisciplinary research base and expertise in a wide range of sciences and applications – protein chemistry, molecular and cell biology, polymer and surface chemistry, and biocompatibility, to list a few – has consequently become an important player in the development of medical devices.  
  
A recent example of how multidisciplinary teams can work together to achieve improved, novel approaches to medical challenges is a new fibre-optic device to help treat dysphagia. This is a serious swallowing disorder most commonly affecting young children and recovering stroke victims. CSIRO has developed a device that is less invasive than currently available diagnostic tools. The new device is the culmination of research and expertise from the divisions of Industrial Physics (CIP) and Manufacturing and Materials Technology (CMMT).

By combining experience in fibre-optics technology with micro-joining and assembly experience, the project leaders, CIP’s Dr John Arkwright and CMMT’s Simon Doe, developed a catheter of minimal dimensions by using some clever physics. The catheter is going through a process of product engineering, and with the help of experts in polymer chemistry from CSIRO Molecular and Health Technologies, is getting close to the stability required for full-scale commercialisation.

“In addition to being smaller, and thus less intrusive, the fibre-optic technology doesn’t require the patient to sit still for a long time,” Dr Arkwright says. This is an advantage when diagnosing young children.

Downstream from diagnostics, CSIRO has also established itself in the medical-device arena by helping to develop corrective devices, such as its extended-wear contact lenses. The first continuous long-wear contact lenses to hit the market came from a company in the US, CIBA Vision, using technology developed by the Vision Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), of which CSIRO is a research partner.
 
Dr Keith McLean, leader of the CSIRO Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine Theme, says CSIRO has played an important role in developing a world-class lens. “There are about 10 million people wearing this class of contact lens, and projections suggest that by 2011 about 60 million people will be using them – that’s half of all contact-lens wearers.”

Also within the ophthalmic biomaterials field, CSIRO and the Vision CRC have used their skills in polymer chemistry, surface chemistry and cell biology to help develop an implantable contact lens, a project that is in phase I clinical trials.

Dr Scott Martin, leader of Manufactured Devices at CSIRO Industrial Physics, says it is CSIRO’s multidisciplinary skills base that has facilitated such innovations. “The medical-device industry in Australia generates a lot of export potential for Australia, is extremely receptive to innovation and contributes strong growth to the Australian manufacturing sector,” he says. “We have a very relevant capability base here in Industrial Physics that will allow us to make an impact in medical-device markets.

“Our broad capabilities in materials physics and instrumentation combine particularly well in medical-device applications. Being able to measure and tailor the properties of materials, and our ability to fabricate integrated devices, enables us to contribute to industry, both by assisting existing companies, but also via the creation of new ventures.”
 
Although CSIRO has an impressive skills base, it still recognises the importance of partnering in some of the downstream areas such as clinical trials and regulatory affairs. Forming partnerships and providing expertise to companies that have a particular functional goal allows CSIRO scientists to focus heavily on the research and development of novel devices.

“We are working at the interface between different disciplines – biology, chemistry, materials and physics,” Dr McLean says. “The special feature of CSIRO is that we have all of this expertise ‘in house’, which means we can achieve much of this overlap without having to outsource most of the research and development.”