Enhancing a Blood Coagulation Rheometer Design for Portable Operation in Rugged Conditions
Engineering, IT, Mathematics and Statistics
ABOUT THE INDUSTRY PARTNER
Haemograph is a Melbourne-based biomedical start-up company developing a point-of-care in vitro diagnostic device for measuring blood coagulation for commercialisation that has the potential to make a huge difference to medical outcomes, saving many lives and reducing medical complications. Haemograph are also developing a novel syringe that passively evacuates air during loading that has the potential to simplify injections, reduce needlestick injuries, reduce medicine usage, and reduce healthcare costs.
WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?
1. Real-world applications
You will get to work on a project where your skills make a difference in expanding the capabilities of Haemograph’s rheometer. You will be working on a project where the decisions and outcomes of your work could have a meaningful impact on the design and features of the final product.
This will include being involved in making decisions as wide as “what testing do we need to do to verify performance” to “what are the trade-offs associated with using one design option over another?” or even to “what impact do prototyping decisions have later when we transfer to manufacturing?”. In the process, you will gain experience applying your technical expertise while considering the needs of a range of stakeholders.
2. Improve people’s health & lives
If this project is successful, the change it will make for people’s lives could be immense, allowing life-saving early detection of coagulopathies and bleeding/clotting risks in places where currently the distances are too remote or the environments are too uncontrolled or unstable for existing devices. You will have the satisfaction of knowing that your efforts will improve patient outcomes.
3. Industry experience and collaboration
In this project, you’ll get to apply your research within an industrial context, gaining experience in the differences in approaches and considerations between industrial/medtech research and university research. A particular experience you’ll get in this project is that you’ll learn about the regulatory needs and considerations when developing, modifying and enhancing a prototype medical device, especially being able to answer the question, “How do these industrial considerations differ from those when conducting university research?”
RESEARCH TO BE CONDUCTED
In this project, the intern will be assessing the design and components of the rheometer to identify what the barriers could be to effective use in more complicated or challenging environments than a comparatively controlled hospital setting. Based on this, the intern will identify and target which elements offer the most opportunity for improvement or enhanced robustness while maintaining or improving functionality. Based on a combination of technical need and the areas of the intern’s expertise and desired development, the intern will prioritise which components to investigate and redesign.
Target components and systems could include:
The device’s electronic architecture, including the selection of components such as microcontrollers, sensors, and signal processing modules focusing on optimising the device’s electronic circuitry for target conditions;
Redesign of casing materials, seals, and connectors;
Battery technologies and power management strategies.
Subject to time and complexity, the intern will then work through the list, researching methods to improve usability in the more complex conditions and reducing the barriers.
For each item, the intern will identify performance, user and other stakeholder needs via a requirements analysis, using this as the basis for selecting prototype designs, developing verification tests, and prototyping and developing the components.
As the intern successfully prototypes those improvements, they will verify that performance has been maintained under controlled conditions while demonstrating enhanced performance under a representative test in simulated rugged conditions.
In carrying out this project, the intern will gain excellent experience of the steps required in modifying the design of a prototype medtech device consistent with regulatory and related considerations and requirements.
SKILLS WISH LIST
If you’re a postgraduate research student and meet some or all the below we want to hear from you. We strongly encourage women, indigenous and disadvantaged candidates to apply:
This project is suitable for a mechatronics or related engineer.
The principle skills required are design skills aligned with the particular areas the intern is focusing on, such as electronics or mechanical design, with associated skills in areas such as CAD, PCB design, or firmware programming.
RESEARCH OUTCOMES
- Device review including identification and risk-based analysis of components that may cause reduced performance in challenging operating conditions, resulting in a prioritised list of components or systems for improvement.
- For priority components, a detailed needs analysis and validation protocol
- For priority components, improved design supported by a systematic prototyping and testing procedure
- Overall, an improved device with enhanced portability, noise resistance, and performance & durability in challenging environments.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
While the project can’t be conducted entirely remotely because some elements such as familiarisation with the device need to be done on site, significant amounts can be done at sites convenient to the intern.
The intern will receive $3,000 per month of the internship, usually in the form of scholarship payments.
It is expected that the intern will primarily undertake this research project during regular business hours and maintain contact with their academic mentor throughout the internship either through face-to-face or phone meetings as appropriate.
The intern and their academic mentor will have the opportunity to negotiate the project’s scope, milestones and timeline during the project planning stage.
Please note, applications are reviewed regularly and this internship may be filled prior to the advertised closing date if a suitable applicant is identified. Early submissions are encouraged.
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