Launch of Advanced Biofabrication Centre

In an Australian first, leading researchers have come together to take bionic research to another level with the launch of the Advanced Biofabrication Centre at St Vincent's Hospital.

The not-for-profit Advanced Biofabrication Centre is the first hospital based multidisciplinary centre in Australia designed to improve the health outcomes for Australians. Researchers and clinicians will work alongside each other with a vision to replace lost or damaged joints and limbs through tumour, trauma or degeneration.

St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne (SVHM) has assembled a coalition of biologists, material science experts, biomedical engineers, and robotic experts to drive medical innovation and become an Australian leader in this fast growing industry of bionics research. University of Melbourne staff involved in this exciting new venture include researchers from the Department of Medicine and Radiology, and the Department of Surgery.

Accelerating Discoveries Together

Disorders such as cancers, trauma and degeneration lead to reduced lifespan through disability. Although they don’t lead directly to mortality, their impact on the ability to live independently and continue productive working life is severely debilitating to both individuals and society. In Australia alone, this is estimated to cost $34.2billion per year. At St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne the 3D Bioprinting revolution has been established  within the Advanced Biofabrication Centre – which is a precursor to the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD).

Biofabrication will be one element of the ambitious ACMD. At the Advanced Biofabrication Centre, researchers will build biological structures such as organs, bones, brain, muscle, nerves and glands: almost anything that requires repair through disease and physical trauma. 

At the Centre of Discovery

The Advanced Biofabrication Centre will be the first hospital-based multinational disciplinary Centre in Australia designed to facilitate translational research to improve the health outcomes for Australians.

The Centre aims is to bring researchers together to drive medical innovations such as re-engineered limbs, muscles, tissues and nerves. It has the capabilities, research and clinical expertise to use new materials and stem cell technologies to drive this vision, and deliver life-changing opportunities for many patients.

The Centre will enable key researchers and clinicians to explore the real-time development and production of replacement body parts, which can be surgically implanted into patients.  

The Centre is a flagship initiative within the eventual Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery multi-institutional endeavour. The vision of the ACMD partners is to collaborate in a dedicated hub, fusing medicine, engineering, science and    industry to revolutionise how we approach medical solutions to chronic health problems.

St Vincent’s has an established track record in health and medical research, as well as clinical trials. Clinicians and researchers based at the Centre will inform basic research with expert clinical insights, identification of unmet patient needs and also translate research findings to patients to drive improvements in clinical outcomes.