Integrated experimental system for assessing innovations in hip replacements

This PhD will develop experimental methods to assess the interaction of hip replacements and surrounding tissue to assess new interventions.  

Motivation 

Over three million people in the UK are living with hip osteoarthritis. While hip replacement surgery is a successful intervention, long-term durability is not guaranteed. The most significant reasons for revision are aseptic loosening and infection, both a consequence of interplay between the hip replacement and surrounding tissue. We, along with our industry partner, believe significant innovation is possible to reduce these causes of revision, if an experimental pre-clinical simulation considering the wider system is developed. This project will develop an integrated system combining the replaced joint, soft and hard tissue anatomy, and mimicking relevant motions to enhance our ability to de-risk technology ahead of in vivo animal studies and clinical trials. 

Project aims

The aim is to develop experimental simulation methods to evaluate surgical interventions for the hip, enabling assessment of functionality and surrounding tissue interactions. Objectives include: 

• Integration a hip replacement into cadaveric tissue to enable us to simulate replaced hips as a system  

• Assess system efficacy in different scenarios (i) the mechanical stability of cadaveric tissue/hip replacements constructs, with altered implant-bone interfaces (to mimic areas of poor fixation) under aggressive cycles, with sequential imaging to detect micro-motion. (ii) to mimic clinically relevant conditions of peri-prosthetic infection including the development of a bacterial biofilm on the prosthesis surface 

• Consideration of the long-term scope of the simulation to include other large joints. 

Environment

The project will include a clinical (orthopaedic surgeon) co-supervisors, as well as academic (engineering and biological backgrounds) supervisors in Leeds with different expertise. During your PhD we will provide full training on laboratory methods required, to enable you to further develop these independently. This project will be working with cadaveric human tissue (that has been ethically approved). You will also learn about project management, scientific writing for different audiences and presentations skills. There will be opportunities to present your work internally, to collaborators and at national and international conferences.