Category: News

The Health Translation Hub (HTH) Open House was a highly successful event, welcoming more than 1,200 visitors through the doors to experience the space in action and explore what the future of healthcare could look like. The Open House attracted a diverse audience, including members of the public, students, researchers, clinicians, industry representatives, and community partners, creating a vibrant and energetic atmosphere throughout the building.

Visitors engaged with a wide range of interactive experiences across the Hub, including virtual reality health simulations, clinical skills demonstrations, pharmacy and optometry clinics, robotics displays, data visualisation, and the Future of Health exhibition. Together, these experiences showcased how research, education, clinical practice, and industry collaboration are being integrated to drive real-world health impact and improve patient outcomes.

Showcasing Connected Sensor Innovation

The ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health was proud to contribute two interactive installations to the Open House, highlighting how connected sensor research is being translated into practical health applications. The Hub’s installations attracted strong interest throughout the Open House.

Balance Function Assessment and Training System

The Balance Analyser was especially popular among visitors. Developed by UNSW researchers in collaboration with Santevation, the sensor-based balance and mobility assessment and training system which allowed attendees to experience firsthand how sensor-driven technologies can support balance monitoring, mobility training, and future clinical and community health applications.

mmWave Radar–Based Human Pose Estimation

The Hub also showcased mmWave radar–based human pose estimation, a privacy-preserving, unobtrusive technology developed by Apostele in collaboration with UNSW researchers, including HDR student Jonathan Williams, the demonstration allowed visitors to experience how movement can be monitored without cameras or wearable devices. It highlighted the potential of radar-based sensing to support future health applications such as rehabilitation, fall prevention, and remote monitoring.

Engaging the Community and Driving Translation

The strong engagement with both installations reflected widespread interest in connected sensing technologies and their potential role in next-generation healthcare. The hands-on demonstrations enabled valuable feedback from a broad audience, helping inform future development while reinforcing the Hub’s commitment to translating collaborative research into practical technologies with real-world impact.

The Open House provided a powerful platform to connect researchers, industry partners, clinicians, and the community, and to demonstrate how innovation in connected sensors can contribute to better health outcomes. The ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health looks forward to building on this momentum as it continues to support research translation, industry collaboration, and the development of technologies that improve health and wellbeing.

The ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health is proud to be part of the inaugural Future of Health exhibition at the newly opened UNSW Health Translation Hub (HTH) at the Randwick Health and Innovation Precinct. The Hub’s participation showcases our latest connected sensor technologies and demonstrates how sensor-driven innovation can support better health outcomes. Our work features prominently in the exhibition, highlighting advances in connected sensing that are already improving patient care and enabling new models of health monitoring with smart-powered systems as well as wearable sensors for health monitoring.

The opening of the UNSW Health Translation Hub (HTH) marks a major milestone for UNSW and the Randwick Health and Innovation Precinct. Designed as a visionary health space, the HTH brings together researchers, clinicians, educators, industry partners, and the community to accelerate discovery and translate innovation into real-world health impact.

The official opening of the exhibition was an inspiring celebration of collaboration and innovation, reflecting the type of cross-sector engagement needed to shape the future of health. We extend our sincere thanks to the UNSW Health Translation Hub precinct and exhibition teams for bringing this space to life.

The Future of Health exhibition is open to the public weekdays from 8:00am to 6:00pm and will run until March 2026. We encourage Hub members, partners, and the wider community to visit and experience this immersive showcase of health innovation. This exhibition is open to the public weekdays from 8:00am to 6:00pm until March 2026, and we encourage Hub members, partners, and the wider community to visit and experience this immersive showcase of health innovation!

The Hub’s 2025 Annual Meeting was held at NeuRA (Neuroscience Research Australia) on 31 October, and brought together Hub investigators, industry partners, affiliates, HDR students, and early-career researchers for a highly engaging day of collaboration and knowledge exchange. The meeting provided an important opportunity to reflect on progress across the Hub, strengthen partnerships, and explore pathways for translating connected sensor research into real-world health impact.

Opening Remarks and Invited Speakers

The meeting opened with remarks from Hub Director Chun Wang, who highlighted the Hub’s momentum and the importance of strong collaboration across academia, industry, and healthcare. Invited speakers Toby Hodgson (Medical Technology Association of Australia), Mary-Beth Brinson (Wavewise Analytics), and Edwina Lim and Ben Wright (Mimetic MedTech Foundry) shared valuable insights into commercialisation, funding pathways, and innovation in connected health technologies, offering perspectives on navigating the journey from research to deployment.

 

Presentations from our Industry and Affiliate Partners

The program also featured talks from industry and affiliate partners, who discussed how cross-sector collaboration supports translation from research to real-world impact. Speaker presentations included Mark Flynn (Global Edge Medtech Consulting), Kat Robinson and Lynette Reeves (Miroma Project Factory), Katja Beitat (Cicada Innovations), and Victoria Bicknell and Isabelle Stringer (ANDHealth), highlighting the importance of partnerships in building successful health technologies.

Project highlights across our Research Projects

A key feature of the meeting was updates from each industry research project, with teams presenting progress, outcomes, and next steps across the Hub’s diverse portfolio. These updates showcased the strength of collaboration between researchers and partners and the breadth of connected sensor technologies being developed to address real healthcare challenges.

Poster Session and Pitch Competition

The day concluded with a poster session and a fast-paced pitch competition with an impressive 15 of our HDR Students and Early Career Researchers, led by Pitch Master Justin Gooding and judged by Victoria Bicknell (ANDHealth), George Bou-Rizk (Genesys Electronics Design), and Nigel Lovell. HDR students and early-career researchers demonstrated creativity, clarity, and a strong focus on impact in articulating their research.

🏆 Congratulations to the Pitch Competition awardees and to all that participated.
🥇 Cong Nguyen
🥈 Sylvia Chen
🥉 Michael Abraham Listyawan
⭐ Highly Commended: Nathan Scott

 

The 2024 Annual Meeting was a success, filled with inspiration, collaboration, and shared vision for the future. Thank you to everyone who participated and contributed to the spirit of  partnership that defines our Hub. We look forward to another year of progress and success as we continue our journey together.

Congratulations to Hub Chief Investigator Dr Javad Foroughi, alongside Hub Director Scientia Professor Chun Wang and collaborator Dr Liao (Leo) Wu, who have been awarded a $750,000 NSW Health Cardiovascular Collaborative Grant.

This significant funding supports the development of a soft-robotic artificial heart muscle, an innovative technology designed to provide more effective and adaptive cardiac support for patients living with end-stage heart failure. The project represents a powerful example of how multidisciplinary engineering research can translate into solutions for some of the most pressing challenges in healthcare.

Building on Dr Foroughi’s 2024 NSW Health Fellowship Project, the team is advancing the design of a soft-robotic ventricular assist sleeve that mimics the natural motion of heart muscle. Unlike conventional rigid mechanical devices, this soft, flexible system is designed to work in harmony with the heart, offering the potential for improved patient comfort, reduced complications, and more personalised support.

At the core of the project is the integration of advanced materials, soft robotics, and connected sensing technologies, enabling real-time monitoring and responsive actuation. By combining expertise across engineering, materials science, and clinical collaboration, the research aims to deliver a next-generation cardiac support technology that bridges the gap between laboratory innovation and clinical application.

This award recognises the strength of the team’s collaborative approach and the translational focus of the research. With support from NSW Health, the project moves a significant step closer to real-world impact, reinforcing the ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health’s mission to develop connected technologies that improve health outcomes and quality of life for patients.

UNSW biomedical engineer, Associate Professor Matthew A Brodie, opens in a new window has developed a new app, which is helping tens of thousands of individuals combat difficulties in walking. With the help of research fellow and Director of Parkinson’s NSW, Martin Ostrowski, the two have focused their efforts on assisting those suffering from health concerns that impact their ability to walk. These include but are not limited to Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, stroke, heart failure, kidney disease, dementia and sleep issues. The “Walking Tall” app has been translated into multiple languages and made freely available for the worldwide community to use via the App Store, opens in a new window and Google Play, opens in a new window – with the aim of providing some immediate relief for people suffering from gait impairments.

One foot in front of the other

There are more than 320 million people worldwide with treatable motor impairment. These health concerns are issues in their own right, but they can also lead to reduced physical exercise. “We wanted to create technology that could help people walk because insufficient physical exercise is a major risk factor for a number of conditions,” says Associate Professor Brodie.

“This is what’s inspired me to create research that one day could potentially help over 100-million people walk with confidence.”

The Walking Tall app, which initially received trial funding from the Michael J Fox Foundation, and Shake It Up Foundation Australia, opens in a new window, works by delivering a simple metronomic beat across three different walking speeds that have been designed to trigger movement. Further developments were made in partnership with the ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health (Connected Sensors Hub), and with the software team at UNSW’s Tyree Institute of Health Engineering. With every-day use of the app, individuals can not only learn to walk better but walk for longer, reduce falls and improve overall mobility.

“It’s giving hope to people through something that actually works now – and when we add new elements, it will be even more powerful,” says A/Prof. Brodie.

The full story is available at UNSW Engineering.

On 14 November, members of our Hub convened in Sydney for the 2024 Annual Meeting. The event provided a vibrant platform for networking, bringing together our Hub members in person to learn about the ongoing projects. While it is impossible to capture all our discussions here, we will use this article to provide a peek into the day that emerged.

The day was graced with three guest speakers sharing their industry insights and scientific expertise. Ms Emma Hossack, from the Medical Software Industry Association, spoke about complex health connectivity and gave us a glimpse into that environment, which will lead to an improved ecosystem in future.

Professor Ray H. Baughman from the University of Texas at Dallas, gave us talk on the application of carbon nanotubes yarns for health uses. Carbon nanotube (CNT) yarns are useful for many applications including electrical energy storage, mechanical energy harvesting and strain sensing that requires no electrical energy input.

Dr Atsushi Otake from Keio University, Japan, focused on his contribution of diamond microelectrode for biomedical applications. Since 2021, he has been a member of Prof. Yasuaki Einaga’s group at Keio University, focusing on environmental and biomedical applications of diamond electrodes. His contributions are globally recognised in the field of diamond electrochemistry.

Project highlights across our research themes

A highlight of the meeting was the presentations from 15 research and industry partners, showcasing their work across our research themes, including Santevation, Vlepis, Nutromics, nthalmic, and NeuRA (Neuroscience Research Australia), among others. These presentations ignited a renewed excitement for ongoing research and emphasised the importance of working together to drive innovation.

Security, privacy and regulation: talks and Q&A

 The meeting also included invaluable insights from regulatory and industry experts. Our speakers Tracey Duffy, First Assistant Secretary, Medical Devices & Product Quality Division, Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Dr Katja Beitat, Group Executive, Health Incubators & Programs, Cicada Innovations, and Minta Chen, Head of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance, Annalise.ai presented on the intricacies of developing wearable devices and software.

They highlighted the critical importance of identifying challenges early when dealing with security, privacy and regulation emphasising the necessity of engaging with stakeholders to foster meaningful innovations that can transform healthcare.

Poster session wrap-up

As the day progressed, we celebrated the dedication of our early career researchers through a series of poster presentations. Participants showcased their work in 1-minute thesis-style and our industry judges had the challenging task of selecting outstanding contributions.

Congratulations to our winners: 🥇 An Trương, 🥈 Essam Dief, and 🥉 Steven Phu. Their exceptional research stood out among many impressive submissions.

 

 

 

 

The 2024 Annual Meeting was a success, filled with inspiration, collaboration, and shared vision for the future. Thank you to everyone who participated and contributed to the spirit of  partnership that defines our Hub. We look forward to another year of progress and success as we continue our journey together.

Chief Investigators Scientia Professor Justin Gooding and Professor Kim Delbaere were elected Fellows of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences’ (AAHMS) in 2024 for their significant and continuing research in their field.

Academy President Professor Louise Baur said: “Our new Fellows have a truly exceptional body of work, with each of them considered international leaders in their respective fields.”

“Our Fellowship represents the breadth and diversity of Australia’s health and medical expertise, allowing us to draw on independent, expert and evidence-based advice to drive change and improve health for all.”

Scientia Professor Justin Gooding FAA, FTSE, FAHMS

Justin is one of a small number of researchers who are members of all three STEM based learned academies: the Australian Academy of Science, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and the Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
On his achievement, he said: “It is very humbling and somewhat overwhelming. I feel it is testament to the ability of my team to do research that spans basic science to commercialising devices that provide tangible benefits to people and biomedical researchers.”
Prof. Gooding’s current project is a smart patch being commercialised by a company in Melbourne with support from his team. The smart patch goes on a patient’s arm, allowing doctors to detect drug levels continuously and in real time, ensuring drug levels are right for the patient and not the average person. He describes it as “the most exciting, game changing technology that will come in our lifetime”.

Professor Kim Delbaere FAHMS

Throughout her career, Professor Kim Delbaere has made major contributions to identifying risk factors for falls and sub-optimal ageing. With a background in physiotherapy, she has dedicated her research to falls prevention, exercise interventions and the use of innovative health technology.
Her vision is to empower older Australians to understand and navigate better health trajectories through self-management. In addition to her research, she uses advocacy and commercialisation strategies to broaden the impact of her work.
“I am truly honoured to have been elected by my peers for this fellowship. My work has always been about translating research into real-world solutions that improve the lives of older adults,” Prof. Delbaere said.
“By working closely with consumers, healthcare professionals and policymakers, we are making evidence-based falls prevention strategies accessible and empowering older Australians to live more confidently and independently.”

UNSW Newsroom

We caught up with Hub Chief Investigator Professor Dewei Chu at the Nanoionic Materials Group lab, based at UNSW Sydney, to learn about his group’s ongoing research.

Professor Chu is a recipient of the prestigious ARC Mid-Career Industry Fellowship. The fellowship enables Chu in partnership with industry to utilise his expertise and skills to address industry-specific challenges in powering IoT devices.

Chu’s research group consists of 36 members, including 26 students, and 10 postdocs. The lab, located at UNSW Hilmer Building, has been established for 9 years. Within the Hub Chu is currently collaborating with industry partners Australian Advanced Materials and Tiger Pharm supporting our mission to build an end-to-end ecosystem integrating sensor science, design, manufacturing and commercialisation capabilities.

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What’s the group working on currently?

The increasing development of electronic devices like wearable sensors and flexible batteries has led to the exploration of high-quality, high-performance, and stable transparent and bendable materials for electrodes. Metal nanowire (NW) networks, have emerged as a promising option due to their electrical properties, flexibility, and abundance. Copper, in particular, stands out for being both effective and cost-efficient. However, some challenges remain, such as ensuring the stability and conductivity of copper nanowires. In a new study, aimed at providing guidance for designing strong metal nanowires for use in flexible and wearable applications, published in the Chemical Engineering Journal, Chu and his team developed, Cu@Ag core–shell NWs using a method called galvanic etching. This process enables the control of the structure of the silver coating by adjusting the amount of silver used. It showed an improved ability to withstand heat, keeping their conductivity even after being heated for several days.

The devices are more resistant to mechanical bending after surface modification due to the optimised NW junction. As a result, various human movements related to hand, elbow and knee can be easily detected by the sensors and Morse code, showcasing great promise for wearable sensors. They also conducted in vitro antibacterial tests to evaluate the performance of the devices. Bacterial infections are another big concern during the device operation, which may pose public health risks. A reliable antibacterial activity was achieved in the modified devices, which is attributed to the introduced Ag coating and improved stability.

As the demand for wearable devices continues to grow, Chu and his team’s diverse research holds great promise for the development of next-generation wearable devices. They continue exploring innovative concepts to engineer and create with nanomaterials.

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Rational design of robust Cu@Ag core-shell nanowires for wearable electronics applications
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2024.154001

nthalmic is a privately held, early-stage, Research & Development (R&D) organisation, on a quest to deliver solutions for ophthalmic challenges. Established in 2019 and headquartered in Sydney, developing and commercialising innovative products to address unmet needs in the rapidly emerging fields of global eye care, with a focus on myopia management and dry eye disease.

nthalmic are working towards building an innovation ‘center of excellence’ bringing together an exceptional multi-disciplinary team, which shall serve as an incubation hub to facilitate realisation of ideas to products and close the existing gap between ‘bench’ and ‘real-life’ following our 5-step mantra (I-P-P-V-C).

 

nthalmic team comprises world-class scientists and clinicians have a track record in developing ophthalmic technology solutions. All scientists and clinicians have had their research training at premier universities with some holding visiting academic and professorial positions with distinguished universities including UNSW. They have collectively published more than 150+ peer-reviewed papers.

nthalmic positions itself as an incubator and disruptor for change. The company has the capability to identify, patent, build, test, and translate ideas. They regularly review, critique, evaluate, and analyse the latest research, conference posters, and abstracts to identify research trends and guide their priorities. With the expertise to swiftly move ideas along the product development pipeline, their engineers develop innovative hardware and software platforms to test ideas. Additionally, the clinicians boast 20 years of experience in developing and implementing clinical trials. nthalmic also houses in-house clinical trials facilities equipped with the latest clinical and biometric equipment, software systems, electronic data capturing systems, and database infrastructure operating under GCP standards.

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This year, on its 5th anniversary, nthalmic acknowledges its team’s accomplishments, including:

• taking six product prototypes (novel contact lenses, spectacles and optical films) into large-scale efficacy clinical trials around the world in Australia, China, India, and Spain. These trials enrolled 750+ participants across various global research institutes, major eye hospitals, universities, and optometry clinics.
• Additionally, nthalmic has been granted 19 patents and has 90+ patents pending across 12+ countries for various technologies, including novel contact lenses, spectacles, and optical film designs for myopia management, as well as a novel apparatus to manage dry eye disease.

 

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In 2024, nthalmic attained ISO 13485 certification for the design and development of non-active ophthalmic devices aimed at myopia management. This certification signifies that nthalmic has established a robust Quality Management System (QMS) ensuring the safety and efficacy of its medical devices. Compliance with ISO 13485 is a regulatory mandate for market entry in numerous global regions. Beyond regulatory adherence, their QMS facilitates continuous process improvement, risk management, and enhanced documentation practices. Looking ahead to 2025, nthalmic plans to expand its QMS scope to encompass active devices, a significant progression given the heightened risks and stringent safety requirements associated with these devices. nthalmic remains dedicated to mastering QMS implementation and proudly celebrates this pivotal certification milestone.

Meiboleyes® represents nthalmic innovative at-home medical device solution for treating meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD), the leading cause of evaporative dry eye disease. The meibomian glands line both the upper and lower eyelids, producing oils to coat the eye surface and prevent tear evaporation. MGD occurs due to abnormalities in the glands causing the production of stagnant oils and resultant gland obstruction. Without healthy oils, people can experience irritation, discomfort and vision disturbances. MGD and dry eye disease poses an increased risk with age and affects up to 50% of the world population. Some of the Meiboleyes® related R&D efforts were in collaboration with the Functional Materials and Microsystems team at RMIT, partially supported by the ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health.

nthalmic aims to create a device to deliver sustained and therapeutic heating to the eyes and provide the first dry eye device with a connected mobile app. Temperature sensor integrated into the device help with maintenance and regulation of therapeutic temperature and pressure sensors help maintain a comfortable and safe position on eye. Treatment compliance is integral to treatment success. The connected mobile app helps increase compliance through actively engaging the user to stay on treatment course and collects treatment frequency to provide key statistics to aid in knowledge of treatment progress.

The R&D efforts of the Meiboleyes project have led to the development of a functional prototype currently, which is currently undergoing a pilot study trialled within the UNSW School of Optometry’s Dry Eye Clinic. nthalmic looks forward to continually pushing the boundaries of connected health leveraging active technology and improving health outcomes in the ophthalmic field on a global scale.

Learn more about nthalmic here. 

There’s just one week left to submit your Expression of Interest (EOI) for Tyree IHealthE’s Innovation Catalyst Awards. Don’t miss this chance to secure up to $50,000 of personalised translation support to advance your MedTech or software innovation.

It only takes 5 minutes to submit an EOI, and it could be the key to advancing your innovation or idea.

With tailored assistance in business development, regulatory/IP strategy, team building, and technology advancement, these awards are designed to equip you with the resources and support you need to succeed. Join a community committed to advancing healthcare.

Applications close on 30th August 2024.
More information: https://www.ihealthe.unsw.edu.au/catalyst-awards

Innovation-Catalyst-Awards-poster