News Items

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New PhD Student joins CREST

Welcome to Cate Wilson, a physiotherapist who has joined CREST, working with Dr Tom Joyce, she will be specialising her research on the spine.

This item was added 3rd March 2010

4th annual meeting of the UK Shoulder Biomechanics Group (UKSBG)

The 4th annual meeting of the UK Shoulder Biomechanics Group (UKSBG) took place in the School of Mechanical and Systems Engineering on 21-22 January 2010, kindly supported by Newcastle Science City.

Attracting an international audience, the first day included 17 presentations by leading researchers who are working towards increased understanding of the most mobile joint in the human body. There was an emphasis on how diseases influence this joint complex and how replacement shoulder joints can be improved for the benefit of patients suffering from debilitating shoulder conditions.

The second day included parallel sessions which considered the orthopaedic market, grant funding opportunities, as well as future developments of the Newcastle Shoulder Model, a computer programme developed in the School over many years which allows joint motion and loading to be predicted.

This item was added 3rd March 2010

Three CREST Graduates

Congratulations to Stu Marsden, Milad Masjedi and Andreas Kontaxis who have all successfully passed their Vivas.

This item was added 3rd March 2010

Dr Joyce becomes Fellow of the IMechE

Dr Tom Joyce, senior lecturer in bioengineering in the School has achieved the status of Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. The Fellow grade (FIMechE) is the highest elected grade of membership within the IMechE. The attainment of which recognises exceptional engineering achievements and contributions to the engineering profession. Fellowship is awarded to members who have demonstrated significant individual responsibility, sustained achievement and exceptional professionalism during their career. Dr Joyce also serves as Chairman of the Tyne and Wear panel of the IMechE and Treasurer of the North East region of the IMechE.

This item was added 27th October 2009

Book chapter published

Dr Tom Joyce of CREST has recently had a book chapter entitled ‘Biopolymer Tribology’ published in the book ‘Polymer Tribology’. Further details of the book, which is published by Imperial College Press and edited by Sujeet Sinha and Brian Briscoe, can be found at http://www.icpress.co.uk/materialsci/p560.html. Dr Joyce’s current research interests in biotribology include: analysis of failed metal-on-metal hip replacements; testing of novel coatings for orthopaedic implants; investigation of alternative lubricants; and in vitro wear testing of orthopaedic polymers.

This item was added 8th July 2009

B Abraham receives UKOTRF Pressalit Award

Brian Abraham has been invited to the Annual Occupational Therapy Conference in Brighton on 25th June to receive the United Kingdom Occupational Therapy Research Foundation (UKOTRF) Pressalit Award. Pressalit is a large supplier of specialist equipment for disabled people

This is of huge importance to his intent to bring the benefits of engineering research to occupational therapy. His engineering approach was enthusiastically welcomed and great confidence expressed in the science used.

The award will be used to purchase a six axis force transducer capable of measuring larger four-caster wheelchair loads than is currently possible.

This item was added 19th May 2009

New Research Fellow joints CREST

Mr David Langton, an orthopaedic registrar, has just joined CREST. Funded by a grant awarded by the British Orthopaedic Association, over 18 months Dave will undertake an analysis of a number of failed metal-on-metal resurfacing hip prostheses. Dave will work alongside Dr Tom Joyce of CREST and will continue a collaboration which has resulted in presentations at various National and International orthopaedic meetings as well as a 2008 publication in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. We are confident that more such research publications will follow over the next 18 months.

This item was added 6th May 2009

CREST PG's are winners at PG Conference

Congratulations go to Pauline Addis, joint winner of the second year prize despite having to convert the audience to her field. Also to Richard Morris, sole winner of the first year prize.

Well done to Oliver Warlow who wrote an outstanding abstract, paper and presentation despite starting his PhD days before the conference deadline.

This item was added 21st April 2009

New post-doctoral researcher joints CREST

Ms Lisa Li has recently joined CREST and started undertaking a Leverhulme Trust funded project over two and a half years to design a multi-station simulator for testing artificial shoulder joints. This is a challenging project but Lisa brings a wealth of previous engineering experience. She will work alongside Dr Tom Joyce and receive additional expert advice from Prof Garth Johnson. We expect that she will contribute towards the continuation of CREST’s position as one of the leading research groups concerned with the understanding of natural and diseased shoulder joints.

This item was added 21st April 2009

Dr Joyce wins ExxonMobil Excellence in Teaching Award

Dr Tom Joyce of CREST has recently been honoured by the winning of an ExxonMobil Excellence in Teaching Award.

This competitive and prestigious scheme is open to all engineering academics in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Individual candidates and their Schools/Departments receive a rewards package which includes a cheque for £10,000. Five such awards were made this year.

The terms of the scheme state that ‘Ideal candidates should have distinguished themselves within their peer group by showing a strong and continuing commitment to teaching, professional activities, promoting engineering as a rewarding and creative career, establishing industrial-academic links and other activities which ultimately ensure the output of top quality graduate engineers’.

Tom uses innovative teaching methods in all the subjects he teaches, not only bioengineering but engineering design and mathematics. He recently won a separate teaching award which has allowed his bioengineering students access to state of the art anatomical software which allows rapid understanding of the complex nature of human anatomy.

This item was added 9th December 2008

Post Doctoral research post available at CREST

A research post funded by the Leverhulme Trust is now available at CREST. This post-doctoral position, funded for two and a half years, will allow a multi-station shoulder simulator to be designed, manufactured and developed. Full details of the post are available at http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/RO860/Research_Associate/

The closing date for applications is 19 December 2008.

This item was added 9th December 2008

International Visiting Fellow Joins CREST

Dr H Suresh Hebbar, Assistant Professor from the National Institute of Technology Karnataka, INDIA has joined CREST for a one-month research visit. Dr Suresh Hebbar is an internationally recognised researcher in the field of tribology. At CREST he will undertake biotribological research under Dr Tom Joyce, investigating the wear of orthopaedic biopolymers. He will also work alongside Dr A P Harsha, another international visiting research fellow undertaking biotribological research funded under a Royal Academy of Engineering scheme.

This item was added 18th November 2008

Substantial BOA Grant awarded to Dr Joyce

Dr Tom Joyce of CREST has recently been awarded a substantial grant from the British Orthopaedic Association. Dr Joyce was the principal applicant on the grant, alongside Professor Andrew McCaskie from Newcastle University’s Medical School and orthopaedic surgeons from a number of North East hospitals.

The grant will fund the purchase of state-of-the-art analytical equipment and, over an eighteen month period, the employment costs of a Research Fellow who will undertake analysis of a number of the latest designs of hip replacement which have unfortunately failed in the body. It is intended that this comprehensive failure analysis will help to improve current designs of hip prostheses for the benefit of the many millions of people around the world who will need these implants at some point in their lives. Moreover this grant serves as the first tangible link between the School of Mechanical and Systems Engineering and a number of local hospitals as well as enhancing bonds between the School and Newcastle University’s Musculoskeletal Research Group.

This item was added 20th October 2008

Director of CREST Retires

Professor Garth Johnson officially retired from Newcastle University on 30th September 2008 after 27 years service although he will be continuing work at the University in a part-time capacity for the next year.

Garth came to Newcastle University in 1981 as the first holder of the newly-established William Leech Readership in Biomedical Engineering. He was promoted to a personal chair in Rehabilitation Engineering in 1995. Over more than twenty years, Garth built up a strong group at Newcastle (CREST) and an eminent reputation nationally and internationally, being listed as one of the UK's 'top ten bioengineers' a few years ago. His work focussed on rehabilitation, with both joint replacement and modelling of movements as supporting pillars, and he had many collaborators in Newcastle University Medical School and in the NHS, as well as other universities at home and abroad. As well as his research, Garth took on a full teaching load at all levels, and acted as Deputy Head of School and Director of Research.

Garth organised a reunion party for present and past CREST postgraduates, staff and collaborators - an informal, enjoyable get-together which proved a huge success.

As the backbone of CREST Garth will be sorely missed and everyone at CREST wishes him well.

This item was added 8th October 2008

Prestigious BORS/ORS Travelling Fellowship awarded to Dr Joyce

Dr Tom Joyce, of CREST, has been awarded a prestigious British Orthopaedic Research Society/Orthopaedic Research Society (BORS/ORS) Travelling Fellowship.These awards are given every two years to six leading UK orthopaedic researchers: two clinicians, two biological scientists and two bioengineers. The awardees then travel to the US for a four-week period which takes in probably the most important orthopaedic conference in the world, the ORS annual meeting (22-25 Feb 2009), as well as visits to between 6 and 8 of the leading orthopaedic research establishments in North America.

Dr Joyce will present his research to these internationally renowned groups and establish long-lasting, international collaborations with fellow orthopaedic researchers.

This item was added 23rd September 2008

Successful Publication by Dr Joyce

The latest fruits of a research collaboration between Dr Tom Joyce of CREST and orthopaedic surgeons from the Joint Replacement Unit of the University Hospital of North Tees has been seen through the publication of a paper in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (British Volume). Typically, between 85% and 90% of submissions to this prestigious journal are rejected therefore the collaborative paper is clearly of a very high standard.

The publication follows on from a number of conference presentations including the last British Orthopaedic Research Society meeting in Manchester and the recent SICOT orthopaedic meeting in Hong Kong. The full reference for the paper is The effect of component size and acetabular orientation on the concentrations of metal ions after resurfacing arthroplasty of the hip by D J Langton, S S Jameson, T J Joyce, J Webb, A V F Nargol. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, British volume, 2008, 90-B, 9, 1143-51.

This item was added 10th September 2008

Dr Joyce wins Pulvertaft Prize

Dr Tom Joyce has been awarded the Pulvertaft Prize by the British Society for Surgery of the Hand (BSSH).

The Society offers a prize of £1,500 and a medal in honour of Mr R G Pulvertaft for an essay on any subject contributing to the knowledge and practice of surgery of the hand. The essay is on a topic of the author’s choice, elaborating its implications for hand surgery. Originality and clarity of exposition are of particular importance. Entries should be stimulating, possibly controversial and above all enjoyable to read. No award is made unless a sufficient standard is achieved.

This year, Tom has been awarded the prize for his essay “Locking the stable door”. His achievement is particularly remarkable: not only was this the first entry he submitted, but it is believed this may be the first time the award has gone to an engineer, rather than a hand surgeon.

This item was added 1st September 2008

Welcome to Dr Harsha

Dr A P Harsha, a Reader in Mechanical Engineering at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, has joined CREST for one year as a Research Fellow. Funded by a prestigious and highly competitive Royal Academy of Engineering Research Exchange with China and India - Major Award, Dr Harsha will undertake biotribological research with Dr Tom Joyce.

The research project will investigate novel biolubricants for use in the testing of biomaterials used in total joint replacements. Dr Harsha will use a state-of-the-art wear test device, the only one of its kind in the world, which will provide copious and vital experimental data for this exciting research project.

This item was added 9th July 2008

Prestigious Grant Awarded to CREST

Dr Tom Joyce and Professor Garth Johnson of CREST have been awarded a prestigious grant from the Leverhulme Trust to allow them to design and develop the world’s first multi-station simulator for testing and therefore evaluating shoulder prostheses. Shoulder joint replacement lacks the success seen with artificial hip and knee joints and in part this can be explained by the fact that there are no suitable test rigs for shoulder prostheses. This significant grant serves to recognise CREST’s international reputation in the field of upper limb joint replacement and to maintain its enviable position in this crucial area.

This item was added 9th July 2008

World Biomaterials Congress

Dr Tom Joyce has been awarded an International Travel Grant from the Royal Society to support his attendance at the 8th World Biomaterials Congress, which will take place in Amsterdam from 28th May to 1st June 2008. At the Congress, Dr Joyce will deliver a keynote address at a dedicated symposium on the topic of Biomaterials in Hand Surgery. In addition he will give two other papers describing aspects of his recent research into novel all-polymer wear couples, and the influence of hyaluronic acid ‘visco-supplements’ on the wear of orthopaedic biopolymers, respectively.

The World Biomaterials Congress is held once every four years and is the most prestigious conference in its field. Three thousand attendees have registered for the Congress in Amsterdam, with over 2,500 podium and poster presentations timetabled, submitted by researchers in 52 countries.

(Link to Conference Website )

This item was added 27th May 2008

Vacation Scholarship

Harry Grigg, a third year student in the School of Mechanical and Systems, has been awarded a Vacation Scholarship which will allow him to undertake research work over the summer with Dr Tom Joyce.

Harry's research will be concerned with an investigation of failed replacement hip joints. By examining the articulating surfaces of these devices it is hoped to obtain a better understanding of what caused them to fail in the body, and then to feedback this information so that future replacement joints can be improved, for the benefit of those who need to have their diseased joints replaced by an artificial joint.

This item was added 14th May 2008

UTLC Innovation Award

Engineering contributes to the improvement of our lives in many ways. One of these contributions has been through the design of artificial joints, a development which has been hailed as the major advancement in orthopaedics of the twentieth century. Hundreds of thousands of joint replacements have been implanted, transforming the quality of life of many thousands of people suffering from crippling musculo-skeletal diseases.

But how can engineering students best learn about such devices and the environment in which they must operate? A grant totalling almost £5,000 has been awarded to Dr Tom Joyce by the University Teaching and Learning Committee which will allow the purchase of eleven physical models of different human joints and on-line access to state-of-the-art software related to the anatomy and physiology of the human body.

Dr Joyce will use these innovative teaching aids to allow engineering students, who will generally have little prior formal education related to human anatomy and the function of human joints, to quickly and effectively understand these critical new areas. Moreover these teaching aids will also permit the students to learn in small groups so that peer-to-peer learning, recognised as one of the foremost learning methodologies, will be facilitated.

This item was added 14 May 2008

Research Exchange with India – Major Award granted

Dr Tom Joyce has been awarded a ‘Research Exchange with India – Major Award’ by the Royal Academy of Engineering. This prestigious project will allow an Indian academic, at Reader level, to travel from his home University to the Centre for Rehabilitation and Engineering Studies (CREST) and to undertake a year long research project entitled ‘the development and validation of novel lubricants to be used in the testing of biomaterials employed in total joint replacements’. The project will be under the supervision of Dr Joyce and will take place in the CREST biotribology research laboratory.

This item was added 19th March 2008

CREST Postgraduate wins First Prize!

Stuart Marsden, postgraduate in CREST, has been awarded first prize of 500 Euro for the best student presentation at the 8th Conference on Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering held in Porto, Portugal 27th Feb to 1st March 2008.

His paper is entitled "Fitting of a volumetric mesh to muscle geometry for the prediction of muscle lines of action".

This item was added 3rd March 2008

Seminar by Professor Liz Tanner

Professor Liz Tanner from the University of Glasgow will be giving a seminar on Wednesday 20th February at 11am in Lecture Theatre 4 on the ground floor of King George VI Building, Newcastle University and all are welcome.

Her seminar is entitled "Bioactive Composites for Bone Replacement"; details can be found at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/mech/about/seminars/item/bioactive-composites-for-bone-replacement.

This item was added 12th February 2008

Launch of UK Shoulder Biomechanics Group website

We are pleased to announce the launch of the UK Shoulder Biomechanics Group website. This can be found on www.uksbg.org.uk

CELS (Centre of Excellence in Life Scienes) are hosting the site and CREST is presently administrating the site.

This item was added 11th February 2008