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£50m boost for health and business

Date

Advances in medical engineering that could help improve the quality of life of an ageing population are being showcased at the University of Leeds.

Work at the WELMEC Centre of Excellence in Medical Engineering is centred on technologies that will provide '50 active years after 50'. Its partner programme, the Innovation and Knowledge Centre in Regenerative Therapies and Medical Devices (IKC), aims to translate innovations in healthcare from the lab to the bedside. Examples will be presented today at a special invitation-only event celebrating the launch of both initiatives.

Funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the £20 million WELMEC Centre is bringing together over 200 engineering, physical science, life science and medical researchers from the University of Leeds and the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust with clinicians and industrialists. It is based in the University's world-leading Institute of Medical and Biomedical Engineering (iMBE).

The Innovation Knowledge Centre (IKC) will work alongside WELMEC to mix business knowledge with the most up-to-date research to harness the commercial potential of emerging technologies. New treatments or devices could include longer lasting joint replacements, tools for 'virtual' pathology, regenerative heart valves and blood vessels, and advanced tissue engineering for bones and teeth using nano-biomaterials.

"We now have the technology available to do astonishing things, such as repairing the body by growing healthy new tissue through biological scaffolds and stem cell therapy. And a new generation of prosthetic hip and knee joints that last longer will avoid the need for further replacements, reducing the cost on the public purse in the long term," said Professor John Fisher, Director of the WELMEC Centre.

"Whilst some of these technologies are quite expensive to deliver upfront, if you can eliminate the need for patients to have ongoing treatment and drugs, then it makes sense from a health economics perspective as well."

The IKC is funded jointly by the EPSRC , Technology Strategy Board and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (£10 million), industry (£6 million) and the University of Leeds (£2 million). Additional new collaborative research funding of over £50 million has already been confirmed to match the IKC award, and the centre has plans which have identified research and innovation funding in this area of over £110 million during the initial five year period of its activities.

EPSRC's Chief Executive, Professor David Delpy said: "Taking exciting research from the university laboratory to the commercial sector through close collaboration with users and other stakeholders is vital to ensuring the UK's economy continues to be innovative and globally competitive. EPSRC is strongly committed to supporting universities in commercialising their outstanding research and I commend the approach taken by Professor Fisher and those at iMBE who in working in this way are guaranteeing a higher standard of health for all."

For more information
Paul Barrett, University of Leeds, Enterprise and Innovation Office. Tel: 0113 343 0917 or email p.barrett@leeds.ac.uk
Paula Gould, University of Leeds, Media Relations. Tel: 0113 343 8059 or email p.a.gould@leeds.ac.uk