Clinical Engineering Research Unit
Head of Unit - Professor John Hunt
The Clinical Engineering Research Unit is within the Faculty of Medicine. The Unit encompasses a number of research and educational activities that embrace many different aspects of science, engineering and technology in health care. Its teaching roles include two undergraduate courses, presented in collaboration with Units in the Engineering Faculty, and a taught masters-level training package in Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering.
Great emphasis is placed on its research programmes related to biomaterials, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine and the Unit has built up a substantial reputation in this area on a world-wide basis. All of the academic staff of the Unit are fully involved in these programmes, offering expertise ranging from materials science to fluid mechanics, and from biochemistry to cell biology. Please follow the links for more detailed information about our research, educational and clinical activities.
The last few years have witnessed a significant change in the scope of the Unit, a change that is entirely consistent with the evolution of biomaterials and medical devices industry towards directed interactive and regenerative approaches often termed tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The research emphasis has evolved from one that concentrated on synthetic biomaterials and classical medical technology to one in which new biology as well as traditional materials science plays a significant role in developing approaches to reconstruction of the body, ideally leading to repair by regeneration. Tissue engineering is playing an increasing role in the R&D activities of the Unit, but is seen to co-exist alongside rather than replace biomaterials science in the portfolio of research activity. This approach can be seen through the successful JIF, UK government funded U.K. Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Centre (UKBioTEC), a build and equip of a suite of biomaterials and tissue engineering laboratories.
The Unit is well placed therefore, with facilities and equipment as well as a long and successful track record in biomaterial science, tissue engineering and human adult stem cell biology to move forward in this exciting applied inter- and multi-disciplinary subject. The Unit is set to expand its educational programme and especially to increase its intake of graduate students, hopefully on an international basis, in both PhD research programmes and taught masters programmes. The Unit already collaborates extensively with industrial and commercial partners and is seeking to expand further its contract and collaborative R & D projects. The staff of the unit are always willing to discuss collaborative research and development opportunities or new educational and training initiatives with interested parties. For further information, please contact the Head of Unit, or other members of staff via email.
The Unit is situated in the heart of the Medical School (building No. 27 on the Precinct Map ).
General enquiries may be sent to: clineng@liverpool.ac.uk.