EPSRC Capital Award for Core Equipment, King's College London

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King's College London has launched a new department in Surgical and interventional Engineering which in embedded within one of the UK's leading NHS hospitals, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. By creating the new Department of Surgical and Interventional Engineering (SIE), the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences (BMEIS) at King's is building on world-leading strengths in diagnostic imaging sciences and is expanding into the high-potential area of SIE. Combined with the existing expertise in translational research, a fully functional space for SIE will provide research staff with the means to deliver high-impact translational outcomes in SIE and give them additional opportunities to explore and cement novel cross-disciplinary collaborations. The development of healthcare technology is complex, usually requiring the integration of many components and multiple validation stages before a final device - be it hardware, software or a combination of both - can be delivered for use in clinical studies and trials. Going through this complex pathway is compulsory to be able to reach standard of care. Few MedTech industries are willing to invest in innovative technology transfer without clinical feasibility demonstration, thereby limiting the current impact of SIE research. Furthermore, given the typical high cost of clinical infrastructure and the restriction imposed on equipment dedicated to standard clinical care, SIE researchers often develop technology in isolation from the target clinical environment which further limits the compatibility of their solutions with clinical practice.We believe that the mock interventional suite, fit for cadaver studies, coupled with supporting specialist research infrastructure will provide a unique opportunity for SIE researchers to develop, integrate, evaluate and validate a vast array of innovative medical devices and procedures in a realistic re-creation of a clinical environment. Our mock interventional suite will be the first of its kind in the UK and in Europe, notably featuring interventional 3D X-ray imaging, ultrasound devices, endoscopy, robotic surgery, instrument tracking and cadaver facilities. An integrated ceiling mount system will combine display, lighting and video recording capabilities to re-create, record and analyse clinical workflows relying on innovative devices. Specialist equipment will support research in interventional devices featuring capabilities in areas such as photoacoustic sensing, molecular biophotonics, extero/proprio-ceptive microrobotics and hyperspectral imaging. This award will complement these capabilities by allowing the procurement of a robotic surgical microscope with fluorescence imaging, 4K stereo recording and surgical navigation features. This will support an expanded research portfolio within the EPSRC remit.