Summary Plenary

In today’s research environment we hear lots about translation and impact. I am privileged to work shoulder to shoulder with many researchers committed to this cause. To facilitate that journey we need to understand that the processes and support structures needed to be competitive in more traditional research endevours do not work here.

Let me use our experience in driving the deployment of bioengineered products to highlight the challenges and propose some solutions.

More than three decades ago, we, at the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, embarked on a number of explorations using the most advanced materials and fabrication methods to address medical challenges. It was always our intention to ensure our fundamental discoveries were deployed into the clinic to benefit patients. Now we can see the doorway to deployment for some areas on the near horizon. Perhaps we could have been here a lot sooner so maybe the lessons we have learnt will benefit others.

Through a number of case studies including regeneration of nerves, cartilage and skin, as well as the manufacture of the bioengineered cornea lets retrace our steps. We will summarise the journey to date and the obstacles encountered. We will highlight that exciting breakthroughs in science don’t always equate to clinical solutions and the pathway to deployment has major speed humps that are not purely technological. We were only able to navigate these obstacles through the establishment of key collaborations and a vibrant clinical connections network.

Our focus on translation has also highlighted the need for further advances in fundamental research in areas such as contactless characterisation and machine learning for optimisation of fabrication strategies. Discovery and translation are inextricably linked.

From the lessons learnt to date, we will suggest a framework for project design, from the outset of a mission with clinical deployment of bioengineered products as the goal.

Biography Prof. Gordon Wallace

Professor Gordon Wallace is involved in the design and discovery of new materials as well as the development of innovative fabrication and characterization methods. Gordon is committed to the use of fundamental breakthroughs in these areas to drive new technologies in Energy and Health.

He has published in excess of 1,200 refereed journal publications that have attracted more than 83,000 citations with an H-index of 135 (Scopus). He is listed as a co-inventor on more than 60 patents and was acknowledged in 2017, by patent attorney Nicola L Maxwell, as one of Australia’s most influential inventors.

Prof Wallace has a long-standing track record in research training. Since joining UOW, he has successfully supervised more than 200 PhD students from over 30 different countries who have gone on to highly successful careers around the world. He has also mentored over 50 ECR Fellows.

He was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia 26 January 2017 and received Wollongong’s award for Innovation in 2017 as well as serving as Wollongong’s Australia Day Ambassador. Gordon was named NSW Scientist of the Year 2017. He received the Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science and Innovation in 2016 and was appointed to the Prime Ministers Knowledge Nation 100 in 2015. Gordon is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), Institute of Physics, and Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI). He is a corresponding member of the Academy of Science in Bologna. He was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 2023.

He is currently Director IPRI.

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