The new Discovery Lab, based at the ISEH, is a research partnership between UCL and Smiths Medical, who provide funding and expert advice. The Lab aims to improve innovation in medical practice and equipment design used in hospital operating theatres, and fast-track the implementation of products that have been through successful trials.
Discovery Lab brings together product designers, clinicians and engineers to discuss areas of potential opportunity, from device trials to longer-term, more speculative projects. Examples of current projects include new tracheostomy equipment and catheters; each is designed to be safer for patients and easier for clinicians to use. To support its work, the Lab also funds a research fellow.
Project Lead Dr Simeon West FRCA, Honorary Research Fellow in Medical Physics and Bioengineering at UCL, said: “The Discovery Lab shares the ISEH’s aims of improving our understanding of human physiology, and using this knowledge to support the development of new, more effective medical equipment and procedures. The ISEH offers an ideal environment for our research programme, while our partnership with Smiths Medical gives us access to significant engineering and commercial expertise.”