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

国王学院伦敦已经推出了一个新的部门在外科和介入工程，在嵌入在英国领先的NHS医院之一，盖伊和圣托马斯' NHS基金会信托。通过创建新的外科和介入工程系（SIE），King's的生物医学工程与成像科学学院（BMEIS）正在建立世界领先的诊断成像科学优势，并正在扩展到SIE的高潜力领域。结合现有的翻译研究专业知识，SIE的功能齐全的空间将为研究人员提供在SIE中提供高影响力翻译成果的手段，并为他们提供更多的机会来探索和巩固新的跨学科合作。医疗保健技术的开发是复杂的，通常需要集成许多组件和多个验证阶段，然后才能交付最终设备（无论是硬件、软件还是两者的组合）用于临床研究和试验。要达到护理标准，必须通过这一复杂的途径。很少有医疗技术行业愿意在没有临床可行性论证的情况下投资创新技术转让，从而限制了SIE研究的当前影响。此外，鉴于临床基础设施的典型高成本和对专用于标准临床护理的设备的限制，SIE研究人员经常在与目标临床环境隔离的情况下开发技术，这进一步限制了他们的解决方案与临床实践的兼容性。我们认为，适合尸体研究的模拟介入套件，再加上支持专家研究基础设施将为SIE研究人员提供一个独特的机会，在现实的临床环境中开发，整合，评估和验证大量的创新医疗设备和程序。我们的模拟介入套件将是英国和欧洲同类产品中的第一个，特别是具有介入3D X射线成像，超声设备，内窥镜检查，机器人手术，仪器跟踪和尸体设施。集成天花板安装系统将结合联合收割机显示，照明和视频记录功能，以重新创建，记录和分析依赖于创新设备的临床工作流程。专业设备将支持介入设备的研究，这些设备具有光声传感、分子生物光子学、外显/本体感受微型机器人和高光谱成像等领域的能力。该合同将通过允许采购具有荧光成像、4K立体记录和手术导航功能的机器人手术显微镜来补充这些功能。这将支持在EPSRC职权范围内扩大研究组合。

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.