The IBME Ox Tech Research Showcase, held at the Richard Doll Building on 26th May, opened with remarks from IBME Director Professor Robin Cleveland. He introduced the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, outlining its history, the individuals who shaped its development, and the landmark projects that have defined its trajectory. Professor Cleveland guided the audience through a timeline beginning in 2003, when Professor Brian Bellhouse provided the early seed funding to create the institute from the sale proceeds of Powderject, through to the IBME’s formal creation in 2008 and the present year in which IBME has launched its thirtieth spinout company.
The first speaker, Professor Eleanor Stride, delivered a presentation entitled Busting Bugs with Bubbles: Engineering drug delivery systems against antibiotic resistant bacteria. Her talk addressed the growing challenge of antimicrobial resistance and the scale of the threat posed by diminishing antibiotic efficacy. Professor Stride explained how bacteria form biofilms, complex structures that evolve over time and significantly increase resistance to treatment. Once established, biofilms associated with chronic wounds can be approximately one thousand times more resistant to antibiotics, often containing multiple bacterial species within a single site.
Professor Stride and her team are developing a novel therapeutic approach based on microscopic bubbles, smaller than blood cells, designed to transport antibiotics directly to affected areas. Activated by precisely focused ultrasound, these bubbles expand and contract rapidly, temporarily disrupting the biofilm barrier and enabling effective drug delivery. This work demonstrates how established medical technologies can be repurposed to enhance the performance of existing treatments and respond to the evolving risks of antimicrobial resistance.
Professor Constantin Coussios followed with a talk titled From Living Organs to Saving Patients: Engineering Tomorrow’s Cancer Therapies. He reflected on his early work in organ preservation, which began during his undergraduate degree, and traced the development of OrganOx, a company that developed a system designed to replicate physiological conditions such as blood pressure and oxygenation in order to maintain organs in a functioning state outside the body. He described the engineering challenges involved in mimicking natural biological processes, noting the inherent complexity of organs, which regulate themselves in ways that are difficult to anticipate using conventional control theory.
By 2025, OrganOx technology was being used in approximately thirty percent of liver transplant procedures in North America. Two weeks prior to the event, the ten thousandth life had been supported by the device. The company has recently been acquired by the Japanese firm Terumo for 1.5 billion US dollars, the largest ever sale of a spin-out from the University of Oxford. Professor Coussios also highlighted the broader impact of the technology, including a reduction in average transplant waiting times from forty-nine days to fourteen days, and a decrease in waiting list mortality rates from 13 percent to 6.3 percent between 2021 and 2025.Beyond clinical outcomes, these developments have influenced surgical practice and working conditions, enabling greater flexibility and improved quality of life for clinicians. The technology has also contributed to increased and more diverse participation in surgical careers.
Current IBME research is extending this work by exploring methods to flow blood through organs in situ in order to enhance localized delivery of chemotherapy, and as models to test novel cancer treatments that are able to capture the complexity of human tumour physiology to maximize the chances of successful translation into clinical practice. To evidence this, he presented early clinical results of a novel technique utilizing ultrasound in combination with gas-stabilizing solid particles to enhance drug delivery in solid tumours in the liver, recently shown to have considerable potential in improving outcomes for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.
The final speaker, Professor Timothy Denison, presented Building Replacement Parts for the Nervous System. His talk focused on the challenges of developing cranial mounted bioelectronic devices and the interdisciplinary collaboration required to achieve progress in this field. He discussed advances in targeted brain stimulation, which have already provided therapeutic benefits for patients with tremor, while noting the ongoing challenges in addressing the wider symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions.
Professor Denison outlined current research into optimising the timing and delivery of stimulation, including the development of closed loop systems that use predictive algorithms and machine learning to adapt treatment in real time. He highlighted the importance of understanding biological rhythms, particularly the circadian cycle, in shaping the interaction between stimulation and neural activity.
He emphasised that the widespread adoption of bioelectronic implants will depend on several converging factors, including demonstrable clinical need, technological maturity, and proven safety. Public perception also remains an important consideration, particularly in relation to terminology and acceptability. Future progress will rely on clear evidence of improved patient outcomes and cost effectiveness within the NHS. Looking ahead, Professor Denison identified the ambition for remotely programmable, minimally-invasive systems that are suitable for a broad patient population, including children.
Following the talks, attendees engaged with a series of live demonstrations showcasing IBME research. The Podium Institute presented wearable technologies designed to monitor physical stress during sport. The MultiMeDIA Lab showcased advances in multimodal digital twin models of the heart to support disease diagnosis, real-time clinical decision-making, and image-guided interventions.
Researchers from across IBME contributed to the demonstrations. Veerle Brans and Dr. James McLeod from Professor Stride’s laboratory discussed the challenges associated with biofilms, while the Tissue Engineering Group demonstrated the real time fabrication of biogel based joint implants.
The event concluded with thanks to all speakers and demonstrators for contributing to the success of the inaugural Ox Tech gathering, with anticipation for future events.
