The Surgical Technology Group was founded in 1985 by
Professor Sir Alfred Cuschieri, with a grant from The Wellcome Trust to exploit the unique superelastic and shape memory properties of nickel titanium alloys to create novel surgical devices. The Group now provides a broad array of engineering technologies to support many pioneering advances in surgery, particularly Minimal Access or 'keyhole' surgery, resulting in more than forty patents and thirteen licence agreements. The Group has received more than £2m funding over the years from sources such as the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Medical Research Council, the EU and various industrial partners. The Surgical Technology Group has been an integral part of IMSaT from the beginning and moved to Wilson House in April 2008.
In recent years surgery has been revolutionised by a broad spectrum of technologies and the Group has played a part in many of these, including:
- Multiple degree of freedom surgical instruments
- Access devices for 'Single Port Laparoscopic Surgery'
- Bespoke superelastic and shape-memory components for MAS instrumentation
- Thermal imaging of energetic surgical processes
- Applications of ferromagnetism for surgical retraction tasks
- Tissue property characterisation for modelling and simulation
The Group works closely with scientists and academic clinicians in the University's Medical School at
Ninewells Hospital and at other institutions around the world.
The Surgical Technology Group have a full suite of hardware and software to support their development programmes including state-of-the-art CADCAM, four axis milling, laser welding and a precision assembly facility, all housed in our extensive workshop on the ground floor of Wilson House. Finite element analysis of engineering problems – thermal, mechanical, electromagnetic, etc - can be tackled with our portfolio of COMSOL Multiphysics modules.
The Group also operates a recently upgraded Instron 5564 Tensiometer, complete with environmental control cabinet for temperature-dependent materials, and can perform imaging in the mid infra-red region using its CEDIP Jade ® IR imaging system.
If you wish to discuss a collaborative venture with The Surgical Technology Group then please
contact us.
Staff
