Australia is at the forefront of personalised medical implants. Advances in computer-aided engineering, patient-specific computer models, and additive manufacturing transform patients' treatment through personalised solutions. Manufacturers and hospitals are now trialling 'bespoking' as the new standard of care in orthopaedics and maxillofacial surgery. However, there are three significant challenges to facilitate personalised medical implants commercialisation and widespread use:

1. Regulatory frameworks for personalised implants are at their early stages. Current standards for testing off-the-shelf devices are not directly transferrable for devices designed for individual patients. Instead, future test standards could be based on information from the patient's own anatomy and even lifestyle.

2. There is no well-defined framework or methodology to support the use and increase the personalised implants' success rate. The fabrication of the implant is only the first step. Successful treatment requires a comprehensive approach to optimise the use of the personalised medical device.

3. Although personalised medical implant is a high-value growth area for Australia, there are significant barriers to manufacture at scale.The presentation will discuss these issues from the researcher's perspective, working closely with physicians, industry and government leaders in pushing the frontiers of personalised medical implants.

Speaker: Professor Peter Lee, Director, Australian Research Council Training Centre for Medical Implant Technologies

Professor Peter Lee is the Director of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Training Centre for Medical Implant Technologies and the Chief Investigator in the ARC Training Centre for Personalised Therapeutic Technologies. He leads the largest industry-university-hospital partnership in Australia, focusing on orthopaedic and maxillofacial implants. The Centre aims to train a new generation of interdisciplinary engineers in biomechanics, materials and medical device manufacturing. He joined the University of Melbourne in 2008. Since then, he has held several leadership positions and currently, he is the Deputy Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He leads the Cell and Tissue Biomechanics Laboratory and the Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment (CAREN) Laboratory, where his research aims to understand better the behaviour of biological cells, tissues and the musculoskeletal system under mechanical forces. He has authored more than 140 publications in journals, conference proceedings and books. He is a regular reviewer for journals and grant bodies and currently the Deputy Editor for Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research (Springer Nature), and Associate Editor for Frontiers in Pharmacology (Frontiers).