Flying High with Medical Device MaterialsFlying High with Medical Device Materials
May 18, 2009
What would you do if you had a Boeing aircraft manufacturing facility in your backyard? You would use it as a jumping-off point for producing medical devices. At least that's what Wichita State University has in mind. The university's National Institute for Aviation Research (Wichita, KS) and Via Christi Research (Wichita, KS) hope to receive a $27.1 grant from the Kansas Bioscience Authority (Olathe, KS), which was created by the state legislature in 2004 to help create new jobs in the life sciences industry, to manufacture medical devices using the same lightweight, flexible material used in airplanes.University researchers have their eyes on aircraft composite material—fiber laid down in a matrix that is then embedded in a plastic or other resin. The lightweight but strong and spongy or flexible material, which has already been developed and tested by the Wichita State aviation institute, can be employed to create devices such as hip replacements, battlefield splints, and hospital gurneys.Home to several aircraft manufacturing plants, Wichita boasts an aircraft industry workforce with experience developing and making composite materials. However, the industry is volatile, notes Michael Good, director of business operations at Via Christi Research. "On a chart, the manufacturing line for aviation goes up and down like a roller coaster ride, almost every three to seven years," he comments, "but the line on manufacturing medical devices goes straight up."Researcher Paul Wooley said that the authority's investment committee is recommending giving the project about $4 million a year over five years. The seed money would be used to buy equipment and hire engineers and researchers. With estimates that the project could generate at least 2,600 jobs in the first decade, it is not surprising that as many as 25 local composite manufacturing companies have expressed strong interest.
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