The University of Melbourne is part of a multi-disciplinary project developing a new way to repair cartilage injuries caused by joint trauma.
Cartilage injuries occur in two thirds of all joint trauma, with many of those injuries leading to osteoarthritis that is difficult to treat. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, around 2.1 million Australians today live with osteoarthritis, a condition where cartilage overlying the ends of bones deteriorates.
Professor Peter Choong AO (MBBS 1984, MD 1993), Head of the University of Melbourne’s Department of Surgery and Associate Dean of Innovation and Enterprise, is part of a team that has developed a suite of technologies to swiftly and precisely repair joint injury, preventing arthritis before it starts.
Using stem cell technology, engineering and surgical innovation, Axcelda promises to simplify surgery through a one-off procedure. It incorporates a lightweight, handheld ‘bioprinter’, like a pen, that allows the surgeon to introduce, pattern and sculpt hydrogels and stem cells in the joint, repairing damaged cartilage.
The team has also developed a biodegradable material that is inserted through the bioprinter to form a temporary cartilage scaffold. Once implanted, cells break down the scaffold and replace it with the patient’s new cartilage tissue.
“We have a process of identifying and harvesting stem cells from a patient, we combine those with a biomaterial scaffold and we’ve designed a delivery system to print new cartilage directly into the defective area. We’ve tested the surgical process in experimental models and hope to carry out the first in-human trials in early 2026, which is very exciting."
“The experimental models include in vitro cell-based, tissue explant from surgery — we keep samples and grow patient cells on their own bone tissue, and also longitudinal preclinical sheep studies.”
Professor Choong compares Axcelda technology to treating ‘a pothole in the road’. “If we fix a pothole so it looks and feels like the rest of the road, you don’t even know the pothole was there. Leave the pothole unattended and it gets bigger and the road eventually crumbles — that’s the nature of arthritis,” he explains.
The Axcelda evolution has been a 10- to 12-year journey and Professor Choong sees it as an example of the importance of health workers and medical researchers translating their discoveries into meaningful solutions that have real impact.
“We want to prepare people to take the next step and to take their great ideas to fruition. Health workers are well placed to be innovators because every day they provide a treatment, assess the outcomes, and then look for ways to do things differently and better,” he says.
The 21st century is inviting us to be brave enough to have a spirit of discovery. Otherwise, we won’t make the quantum and disruptive changes that our community needs to solve big problems. We must keep thinking beyond what is easy and focus on how we can do things better.