New Technologies for Imaging the Impact of Bacterial Biofilms in Chronic Open Wounds

The School of Engineering seeks to appoint a PhD student to work on a funded project titled “Reducing the impact of bacterial biofilms in chronic open wounds”. Chronic wounds start with a minor skin injury that doesn’t heal but progress to a problem costing $3.5 billion annually in Australia.

This multidisciplinary project includes novel anti-biofilm treatments, novel imaging techniques for wound monitoring, and dyes which target bacterial biofilms. The project is funded by a Cooperative Research Centres Project in partnership with Whiteley Corporation, Genesys Electronics Design and the University of Western Sydney.

Experience in the design and prototyping of electrical devices, image processing algorithms or prediction tools will be a positive. Experience in the clinical application of biomedical engineering tools will also be considered positively but is not essential. The PhD student will contribute to the aim of developing new imaging technologies that identify bacterial penetration into tissue, and measure the quality of new tissue, blood perfusion, and vessel development.

The desired outcome is a non-invasive portable imaging device that maps healing progress, to be used for clinical monitoring and decision making. The PhD topic will focus on the development of novel imaging techniques for wound monitoring and in particular the development of algorithms for image processing and prediction. This may include, near and far infrared imaging, optical spectroscopy and techniques such as confocal imaging, and optical coherence tomography.

The PhD student will become part of a large multidisciplinary team, consisting of several university and industry partners, who are focused on improving the outcomes for patients with chronic wounds. Desirable experience includes medical imaging technologies and image processing skills. The candidate will ideally demonstrate a mix of analytical, simulation, and experimental skills.

Eligibility Criteria

Honors or Masters degree in Electrical, Electronic or Biomedical Engineering or a closely related discipline. The applicant will need to meet the minimum eligibility criteria for admission.

Application Procedure

Interested applicants should send an email expressing their interest along with scanned copies of their academic transcripts, CV, a brief statement of their research interests and a proposal that specifically links them to the research project.

Please send the email expressing interest to Sarah.Johnson@newcastle.edu.au by 5pm on 31 May 2024.