Research themes
Australian Centre for Health and Precision Technology
Finding better solutions for musculoskeletal and neurological conditions
We are a rare combination of biomedical scientists, engineers and clinicians working towards improved healthcare through greater precision and personalisation. Our integrated health and science capability, from our labs to our partnerships, makes us unique. We combine clinical health knowledge, engineering, industrial design and computer science with a co-design ethos that prioritises solving the difficult challenges faced by clinicians and patients.
Together we’ve pioneered world-first technologies that are being developed and validated within PRECISE. Our precise health technology is also being used to assist in real-world clinical settings with life-changing outcomes for patients.
Our partnership with the Advanced Design and Prototyping Technologies Institute (ADaPT) enables us to advance our research and development pipelines. Being PRECISE is not just our goal, it’s who we are.
Our impact
Increasing the success rate of complex bone deformity surgery in children
We’re helping surgeons at the Queensland Children’s Hospital alleviate bone deformities in children with our breakthrough “Digital Twin” technology. Our advanced digital imaging enables virtual surgery pre-planning and 3D-printed surgical guides, improving functional outcomes for patients and recovery time.
Major Challenge
The Fifth Industrial Revolution seeks to seamlessly integrate man and machine to understand disease mechanisms and to simulate "what if" scenarios for prediction of treatment effects. To do this, the human body must be represented accurately in digital format—the “Digital Twin.” However, the human body is complex, varies between individuals and changes over time. This makes the digital representation of humans a challenging undertaking to make accurate, but with immense benefits.
Solution
We developed methods to incorporate measures of human anatomy (from MRI, CT, ultrasound and non-medical sources such as photogrammetry), motion (from optical and inertial sources), external loading (from dynamometry), neuromuscular state (from electromyography) into physics-based representations of the human body. Collectively, we refer to this process as “Digital Twinning.”
Key Staff
Chief Investigators
Associate Professor David Saxby, Professor David Lloyd, Professor Chris Carty, Dr Claudio Pizzolato, Associate Professor Laura Diamond, Associate Professor Luke Kelly, Associate Professor Matthew Bourne, Professor Stefanie Feih, Professor Rod Barrett.
Staff and Research Fellows
Dr Robert Shuster (foot modelling), Dr Azadeh Nasseri (knee modelling), Dr Martina Barzan (orthopaedic surgery engineer), Dr Riad Akhundov (neuromusculoskeletal modelling), Dr Matthew Worsey (“Digital Athlete” modelling).
HDR Candidates
Alireza Bavil (computational modelling of femur bone), Ayda Dastgerdi (computational modelling of paediatric knee surgery), Beichen Shi (automation in digital twinning), Claire Crossely (computational modelling of electrically assisted cycling).
Funding and Partners
Digital Twin is supported through many partnerships, the most notable being the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance at Stanford University and Cycling Australia.
Contact
Major Challenge
Spinal cord injury results in permanent paralysis. The lack of movement also leads to several chronic complications that deeply impact quality of life and community participation. However, most injuries are anatomically incomplete, meaning that some neurons remain intact at the injury site. These remaining neurons could be leveraged to create new and meaningful connections with other neurons above and below the injury. This could lead to re-enabling people with spinal cord injury to recover the ability to move again.
Solution
We have developed a non-invasive medical device to help re-establish neural connections across the spinal cord injury while training in the clinic or at home. When the user thinks about moving, their brainwaves are interpreted by their digital twin, which in turn simulates movement and electrically stimulates the user’s muscles and spinal cord to create the movement in the real-world. We also use gamified virtual reality to further train the brain and fully immerse the user in the therapy. Presently our main rehabilitation modality is cycling, but our solution could be easily adapted to other movements, like walking or rowing. The device is now being tested in the BioSpine Augmented Ability Hub—within PRECISE—with further studies underway.
Key Staff
Chief Investigators
Dr. Claudio Pizzolato, Dr. Dinesh Palipana, Professor David Lloyd, Associate Professor David Saxby, Associate Professor Laura Diamond, Dr. Kelly Clanchy, Dr. Camila Shirota, Dr. Tim Marsh, Professor Stefanie Feih, Dr. Ben Chen, Dr. Kelly Dungey, Associate Professor Surendran Sabapathy, Professor Jim Woodburn, Professor Rod Barrett, Associate Professor Leanne Bisset, Dr. Sam Canning, Professor Yang D. Teng
Associate Investigators
Dr. Ché Fornusek and Dr. Ryan O’Hare Doig
Staff and Research Fellows
Kyle Mulholland (project manager), Dr. Monzurul Alam (Research Fellow, neuroengineering), Dr. Malik Muhammad Naeem Mannan (Research Fellow, brain-computer interfaces), Dr. Yana Salchak (Senior Research Assistant, electronics and regulatory requirements), Dr. Alastair Quinn (Senior Research Assistant, software), Isabella Faranda (Research Assistant, exercise physiology), Dr. Camila Shirota (Research Fellow, co-design), Dr. Jessie Mitchell (Research Fellow, co-design), Evan Jurd (Research Assistant, industrial design), Ezekiel Duffy (Research Assistant, game design), Dr. Matthew Worsey (Research Fellow, modelling and simulation), Ben Fisk (Research Assistant, software), Dr. Nathan Lyons (Senior Research Assistant, industrial design), Abbey Roberts (administrator)
HDR Candidates
Matthew Hambly (PhD candidate, modelling and simulation), Claire Crossley (PhD candidate, cycling biomechanics), David King (PhD candidate, game design), Caitlin Risstrom (MMedRes, exercise physiology)
Funding and Partners
BioSpine is proudly supported by the Motor Accident Insurance Commission
Contact
For more information on participating in BioSpine's efficacy studies, visit the study webpage or contact Project & Clinical Manager, Kyle Mulholland
Project co-leads, Dr. Claudio Pizzolato and Dr. Dinesh Palipana
Major Challenge
Non-surgical and non-drug interventions, like exercise, are globally recommended for many musculoskeletal and orthopaedic conditions. Most available treatments only have mild effects on symptoms and many patients are unsatisfied with their health care options. Existing treatments tend to use a one-size-fits-all approach that is not personalised and does not target underlying tissue-level biomarkers of disease. These biomarkers include cartilage, muscles, joints, bones, tendons and ligaments. It’s also impossible to monitor the effects of treatment in real-time during physical activity or in a natural environment like the home or clinic. Consequently, people living with these conditions experience persistent pain and unwanted surgical care that is costly and could have been avoided.
Solution
We have developed a non-invasive, portable, wearable technology to manage musculoskeletal and orthopaedic conditions. Smarti-wear measures person-specific tissue-level biomarkers of health and disease in a natural environment (home, outdoors, gym, clinic) in real-time. Our co-designed system integrates a smart garment, AI and a real-time biofeedback system. Applications span prevention and management of musculoskeletal and orthopaedic conditions (osteoarthritis), post-operative rehabilitation, sport/military training, injury prevention, and healthy aging. Our technology is currently being validated within PRECISE, with further studies underway.
Key Staff
Chief Investigators
Associate Professor Laura Diamond, Dr. Claudio Pizzolato, Professor David Lloyd, Associate Professor David Saxby.
Staff and Research Fellows
Dr. Yana Salchak (Senior Research Assistant, electronics), Dr. Matthew Worsey (Research Fellow, modelling and simulation), Dr. Nathan Lyons (Senior Research Assistant, industrial design).
HDR Candidates
Bradley Cornish (PhD Candidate, modelling and machine learning).
Funding and Partners
Smarti-wear is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council and Bionics Gamechangers Australia. Our partners include Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, University of Melbourne and Physiotec Physiotherapy.
Contact
Major Challenge
Neuromusculoskeletal impairments in children can profoundly affect their quality of life and that of their families. These impairments may result from direct trauma to the musculoskeletal system (ligament rupture, bony fracture) or indirectly via abnormal neuromuscular control (cerebral palsy, spinal muscular atrophy). Congenital deformity is another cause of these impairments (developmental dysplasia of the hip, congenital talipes equinovarus). Enhancing functional mobility is a primary goal in clinical practice for all paediatric patients with neuromusculoskeletal impairments. However, clinicians face significant challenges due to a lack of robust evidence and a limited understanding of the underlying causes and long-term outcomes of current management strategies.
Solution
We will enhance personalised management of paediatric neuromusculoskeletal impairments through four integrated streams:
- Bioinformatics—Leverage registry data to apply bioinformatic methodologies, addressing unresolved clinical questions related to clinical management.
- Clinical trials—Lead and collaborate with national and international networks to design and conduct multi-site surgical randomised controlled trials to improve surgical management strategies.
- Virtual surgery—Implement in-house developed neuromusculoskeletal modelling and finite element analysis workflows to virtually design personalised surgical interventions.
- Predictive simulation—Develop and validate forward simulations to predict outcomes from personalised interventions, ensuring better-informed clinical decisions.
Key Staff
Chief Investigators
Professor Christopher Carty, Associate Professor David Saxby, Dr. Martina Barzan, Professor David Lloyd, Professor Stefanie Feih, Professor Alan Wee-Chung Liew, Associate Professor Laura Diamond, Professor Rod Barrett
Staff and Research Fellows
Dr. David Bade, Dr. John Walsh, Dr. Ivan Astori, Dr. Sheanna Maine, Dr. Liam Johnson
HDR Candidates
Alireza Yahyaiee Bavil, Ayda Karimi Dastgerdi, Emmanuel Eghan-Acquah, Alex Seeto, Kylie Bradford, Amana Batool
Funding and Partners
Funding from the Australian Research Council and Medical Research Future Fund. Industry partners include Smith and Nephew, OrthoPaediatrics and Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service.
Contact
Major Challenge
Musculoskeletal injuries are endemic in sport and cause long-term disability. The Australian Government has demanded a National Action Plan to create successful injury prevention programs enabled by sport technologies, to maximise adoption with key stakeholders. Our research focuses on the development and application of next-generation, clinic-friendly technologies to identify athletes at risk of lower limb injury and inform the design of personalised, evidence-based prevention strategies.
Solution
We have a multidisciplinary research program comprised of three strategic pillars:
- Co-design and co-develop with stakeholders—to create field-based human measurement technologies that athletes, clinicians and other stakeholders can use and deploy with minimal disruption.
- Rigorous testing of novel technologies—to evaluate how effectively our technologies can predict, prevent and help athletes recover from musculoskeletal injuries.
- Translate research sustainably and for maximum impact—to have a global impact on the management of athlete’s health by partnering with the sector to make access to our technology accessible for all.
Key Staff
Chief Investigators
Associate Professor Matthew Bourne, Dr Tyler Collings, Professor David Lloyd, Associate Professor Laura Diamond, Associate Professor Luke Kelly, Professor Rod Barrett, Dr Andrea Hams, Dr Joel Garrett.
Staff and Research Fellows
Dr Matthew Worsey (“Digital Athlete” modelling), Dr Tyler Collings (injury risk reduction).
HDR Candidates
Steph Lazarczuk, Benji Dutaillis, Akram Kavyani, Will du Moullin, Yuri Lima, Andrew Martin, Jin Cai, Lauren Brown.
Funding and Partners
VALD, Queensland Academy of Sport, Australian Institute of Sport, Cycling Australia, Australian Football League and Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance at Stanford University.
Contact
Major Challenge
In Australia, more than 7 million people live with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. More than half of these people also suffer from persistent and disabling MSK pain in their hips, knees, ankles and feet.
Unfortunately, the evidence guiding clinical management strategies is inadequate. This leads to the persistence and progression of pain and deformity. In fact, almost half of people who experienced foot and lower limb pain will still have symptoms six years later.
A major barrier to effective treatment is the lack of precision analysis to create personalised patient care plans. Clinicians are currently unable to quantify the loads and strains on the MSK structures within the body. Most clinic-based assessments rely on a visual analysis and the clinician’s skill and intuition.
Solution
We are developing BioMotionAi, a precision clinical care technology. It harnesses our expertise in MSK health, computational biomechanics, computer vision and AI. Developed in collaboration with clinicians and patients, this technology will enable highly personalised care for individuals with lower limb MSK conditions, ensuring the right treatment at the right time.
Objectives
- Build an AI-informed precision clinical measurement technology—Leverage computer vision technology, AI, MSK imaging and biomechanical modelling to undertake an accurate, rapid and reliable assessment of lower limb and foot biomechanics (including estimates of the soft tissue, bone and joint forces).
- Build a precision "treat to target" MSK care model—Enable highly individualised patient care by accurately identifying patient-specific treatment targets (MSK biomarkers), evaluating the effects of treatments on MSK biomarkers and monitoring progression over time.
- Engage consumers—Use co-design to ensure technology outputs are relevant and meaningful to patients and clinicians while ensuring technology is easily implemented and scalable for clinical adoption.
Key Staff
Chief Investigators
Associate Professor Luke Kelly, Associate Professor Laura Diamond, Associate Professor David Saxby, Professor Jim Woodburn, Dr Jayishni Maharaj, Professor Glen Lichtwark (QUT), Prof Clinton Fookes (QUT), Dr Alina Bialkowski (UQ), Professor Hylton Menz (LaTrobe), Professor Shannon Munteanu (LaTrobe), Dr Kerrie Evans (Healthia Ltd) and Dr Sheana Maine (Qld Limb Reconstruction Clinic).
Staff and Research Fellows
Dr Robert Schuster (Research Fellow), Dr Cristian Riveros Mathey (research coordinator), Abbey Roberts (project administrator).
Funding & Partners
BioMotionAi is supported by the Medical Research Futures Fund National Critical Research Infrastructure Scheme. Our clinical partner is Healthia Limited.
Contact
Associate Professor Luke Kelly (project lead) and Abbey Roberts (project administrator).
Tissue Engineering for Regenerative Medicine and Dentistry
Major Challenge
The field of regenerative medicine seeks new treatments to heal, replace or restore tissue to normal function.
Solution
We work on the design of biomaterials and scaffolds to guide tissue regeneration. Our team has pioneered research in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, with a wealth of knowledge and experience in bone regeneration, biomaterials development, and dental implant osseointegration. The research team has established a 3D cell culture system to study cellular interactions and research protocols to investigate immune reactions on biomaterials.
Key Staff
Distinguished Professor Yin Xiao, Dr Lan Xiao, Dr Wendong Gao, Dr Yuqing Mu, Ms Jiaying Liu (PhD), Ms Donglin Cai (PhD), Mr Zhelun Li (PhD), Mr Rongchang Wang (PhD), Xiaohan (Meredith) Mei (PhD), Mano Al-Hadi (PhD).
Funding and Partners
Funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council, International Team Implantology Foundation and the Osteology Foundation.
Partners include UQ, QUT, Wuhan University, Sun Yat-sen University, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Shanghai Institute of Ceramics), Nanjing University, Guangzhou Medical University and East China University of Science and Technology.
Contact
Contact the Australian Centre for Precision Health and Technology
Enquiries
- precise@griffith.edu.au
Find us
- Location and postal address
- PRECISE
- Clinical Sciences Building (G02)
- Gold Coast
- Griffith University Qld 4222
