Wollongong researchers to play central role in new centre to repair damaged nerves

Sep 20, 2006

A woven plastic tube infused with chemicals that encourage new nerve growth may allow patients with severed nerves in their arms and legs to regain the full use of their limbs.

The thin tubular scaffold is being developed by Bionic Technologies Australia which was opened at Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital today (20 September) by the Hon John Brumby, the Victorian Treasurer and Minister for Innovation.

The new device has the potential to help people hurt in accidents, or patients who lose nerves and tissue during cancer surgery.

“This exciting idea stems from Australia’s leadership in bionic technologies. It is one of the key developments at our new centre, which is focused on quickly and effectively bringing new technologies to market,”according to the CEO of Bionic Technologies Australia, Dr Russell Tait.

He said the idea was to stitch a uniquely designed plastic scaffold to each end of a severed nerve in the arm or leg. “Chemicals impregnated into the scaffold would encourage the neurons to grow more quickly and in the right direction, ultimately rejoining the severed nerve. The tubular scaffold will be biodegradable, designed to break down in the body in about nine months,” Dr Tait said.

Each of the centre’s partners is contributing to the new nerve repair device. It’s made from a biodegradable polymer developed by Melbourne company PolyNovo.

CSIRO Textiles in Geelong has used the plastic to weave a complex design that will guide the nerves in the right direction while the Bionic Ear Institute and the University of Wollongong have contributed technology to encourage the nerves to regrow. And St Vincent’s Hospital has contributed the clinical expertise.

St Vincent’s neurosurgeon Associate Professor Michael Murphy said current treatments to repair severed nerves were unsatisfactory. “You can’t stretch severed nerves. You can do a graft, taking nerves from elsewhere in the body, but the end result is often poor,” Professor Murphy said.

“There is a limited time to get nerves to grow, or the muscles thin and die. If the tubular scaffold works, it will speed up repair and improve the outcome.” Associate Professor Murphy said the tubular scaffold could be used in tens of thousands of operations each year in the United States alone. “It could be used on patients who suffered severe cuts, such as those from a knife or circular saw, or patients with trauma or crush injuries from a car accident or an object falling on them.”

Bionic Technologies Australia was established with $6 million from the Victorian Government’s Science Technology and Innovation initiative support, matched by contributions from the centre partners -- The Bionic Ear Institute, St Vincent’s Hospital (Melbourne) Ltd, CSIRO Divisions of Molecular and Health Technologies and Textile and Fibre Technologies, the University of Wollongong, and PolyNovo Pty Ltd.

For further information contact the Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials at the University of Wollongong, Professor Gordon Wallace, on 0409 914410.

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128