EZD wins Bronze Award at Inovyn Awards 2022
The European Center for Dispersion Technologies (EZD) in Selb, an institution of the German Plastics Center SKZ, has reason to celebrate: the research institution has won the Bronze Award at the Inovyn Awards 2022. The project "PVC Soft Tissues for high end surgical simulations", which is being worked on together with the company Medability GmbH from Munich, was awarded in the Responsible Care category. The presentation of the Inovyn Awards 2022, for which 130 projects were submitted, took place on 20 October at the K trade fair in Düsseldorf.
Prof. Martin Bastian, Institute Director of the SKZ, and Dr.-Ing. Felipe Wolff-Fabris, Site Manager of the EZD, at the Inovyn Awards ceremony (from left to right) (Photo: SKZ)
Synthetic soft tissue for surgical training received award
The aim of the project from EZD was to develop a production process for synthetic soft tissue and optimise the material properties for use in the SimBone™ spinal surgery simulator. Medability GmbH's high-end hybrid simulator for surgical training combines highly realistic simulated and thus radiation-free X-ray imaging with realistic synthetic anatomy models. For these models, a new PVC plastisol formulation was developed at EZD that mimics the mechanical behaviour of human tissue, making the surgical simulation for surgical training as realistic as possible. Through extensive development work on the material formulation, the scientific staff from the EZD were able to successfully achieve the project goals and produce a PVC material that exhibits similar behaviour to muscle flesh. The new material will be used in combination with the 3D-printed bones and artificial skin in Medability's surgical simulators.
"The Inovyn Award 2022 is the most important innovation award regarding the sustainable and safe use of PVC. By winning the Bronze Award, our competences and development work in the field of innovative materials have achieved international recognition, which is an extraordinary achievement for a relatively young research institution like the EZD in Selb – founded in 2014. The task of the EZD as a non-profit research institution is to support companies in the development and introduction of new products and innovations. This has been achieved excellently in the project with Medability. The EZD team is looking forward to new projects and challenges, as well as to supporting other project partners with its expertise and services," says Dr Felipe Wolff-Fabris, head of the EZD.
About Medability
Medability is a provider of customised high-fidelity mixed reality simulators that enable hands-on training of minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in orthopaedics, spine surgery and neurosurgery. The SimBone™ simulation platform is an innovative technology-enabled training and distribution tool. The platform provides medical device companies and educational institutions with a simple, fast and cost-effective solution for high-quality hands-on training anywhere, anytime. SimBone™ leverages deep training expertise, high-end technology, integrated assessment and data analytics capabilities to deliver training faster and at lower cost, shorten sales cycles and generate more leads. Medability and SimBone are registered trademarks of Medability GmbH. All rights reserved.
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