Using established “surgineering” principles, this research project will develop personalized surgical implants to treat patients with spinal, sacral and pelvic tumors. The devices will be designed using advanced engineering and implanted using image-guided robotic assistance. The project will leverage engineering and surgical expertise from UT Austin and MD Anderson to create an integrated system that has the potential to be used in a variety of clinical settings.

The project has four main pillars:

• Use computational modeling and automatic surgical planning for spine and pelvic tumor surgery
• Develop mechanobiology-informed, patient-specific biomaterials and implants for optimal biomechanical integrity and biological integration
• Develop surgical robotics and image guidance for placement of surgical implants in the complex context of spine and pelvic tumor surgery
• Integration and testing of a system for image-guided, robot-assisted placement of implants in preclinical studies to evidence performance gains and establish a basis for translation to clinical studies

This project will form the foundation for future collaboration and translational research and innovation in engineering and surgery between the institutions in The University of Texas at Austin Medical Center.

Team Members

MD Anderson

Jeffrey Siewerdsen

Professor
Imaging Physics

Justin Bird

Associate Professor
Orthopaedic Oncology

Kristy Brock

Professor
Imaging Physics

Ke Li

Associate Professor
Imaging Physics

Shalin Patel

Assistant Professor
Orthopaedic Oncology

UT Austin

Maryam Tilton

Assistant Professor
Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Cockrell School of Engineering

Farshid Alambeigi

Adjunct Associate Professor
Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Cockrell School of Engineering

Edward Castillo

Associate Professor
Biomedical Engineering,
Cockrell School of Engineering

Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez

Professor
Biomedical Engineering,
Cockrell School of Engineering

Omar Ghattas

Professor
Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Cockrell School of Engineering

Alex Haynes

Associate Professor
Surgery and Perioperative Care,
Dell Medical School

David Leigh

Director
Center for Additive Manufacturing and Design Innovation,
Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Cockrell School of Engineering

Matthew Wallace

Assistant Professor
Surgery and Perioperative Care,
Dell Medical School