The University of Queensland’s interests in human bionics extend across medicine, allied health, neuroscience, biomedical engineering, materials science, nanotechnology and more.

Robotic and AI-enabled prostheses for upper limb and hand rehabilitation, a new magnetic bionic ear and an AI-enabled pancreas are among the outstanding bionic innovations of UQ staff and graduates that are now at prototype or clinical trial stage.

At UQ, the Queensland Brain Institute is central in advancing a wide range of neural-enabled devices and neurobionic treatments for chronic and degenerative diseases e.g., Parkinson’s disease, MND, MS, Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

UQ researchers at the Herston Biofabrication Institute at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) are also engaged in pivotal work to deliver personalised bone implants, biofabricated organs, tissue engineered vascular grafts, cartilage and ligaments.

Leveraging today’s insights to organoids and organs-on-a-chip, the University of Queensland is well placed to take a leadership role with others in advancing whole organ engineering.