Projects:

Research projects are available for students of Medical Sciences & Mechanical Engineering in the categories of: Summer Research Projects, 3rd Yr, Honours/FYP, MPhil, Masters by CW, PhD. All projects are based at Adelaide Health & Medical Sciences Building, North Tce. All projects have flexible start dates, depending on project availability and research needs at the time of commencement. If you are interested in applying for MPhil or PhD, please contact Dr Quarrington to discuss potential projects related to applied biomechanics, orthopaedics, spine, and neurotrauma.

Exploring brain imaging biomarkers and head acceleration metrics to inform return-to-play guidelines following concussion in contact sports

Project description: Concussion is a common form of mild traumatic brain injury in contact sports, yet current detection and return-to-play decisions remain largely dependent on observed signs, symptom reporting, clinical judgement, and time-based protocols. These approaches are limited because athletes may under-report symptoms, clinical signs can be subtle or transient, and existing return-to-play guidelines do not incorporate objective measures of head impact exposure or brain tissue response. Smart mouthguards now enable accurate, field-based measurement of head acceleration during training and competition, while advanced brain MRI can detect subtle changes in brain structure and white matter microstructure that may not be visible using conventional clinical imaging.

This project will combine smart mouthguard data, advanced brain MRI, and cognitive testing to investigate how the number, severity, and timing of head impacts relate to measurable changes in brain health and recovery following concussion. Participants will include contact sport athletes who wear HitIQ smart mouthguards during training and matches, undergo MRI using advanced imaging protocols at SAHMRI CRIC, and complete cognitive assessments at defined timepoints across the season. The overall aim is to identify imaging biomarkers and head acceleration metrics that can improve concussion identification, inform risk stratification, and support more evidence-based return-to-play guidelines.

The project will involve:

• Processing smart mouthguard data to quantify head impact exposure, including impact frequency, peak linear acceleration, peak angular velocity, and derived impact severity metrics;
• Analysing advanced brain MRI data to detect subtle structural and microstructural changes associated with concussion and repeated head impacts;
• Comparing head acceleration metrics, brain imaging findings, and cognitive outcomes across pre-season, post-concussion, and follow-up assessments;
• Exploring whether objective biomechanical and imaging measures can help identify athletes at increased risk of delayed recovery or premature return-to-play; and,
• Contributing to the development of evidence-based concussion management and return-to-play protocols for contact sport.

Project suitable for: Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Health and Medical Science, Neuroscience, or Sports Science - Summer Research / FYP / MPhil / PhD.

Building artificial spinal cords for safer surgery, injury research and future repair technologies

Project description: The spinal cord is one of the most complex and vulnerable tissues in the body. Damage to the cord can cause lifelong loss of movement, sensation and independence, yet there are still major gaps in our understanding of how the cord is damaged, train surgeons to avoid unsafe cord loading, deliver therapies directly to injured tissue, or replace damaged regions with advanced bioengineered implants.

This project sits within a broader research program developing artificial spinal cord technologies. These technologies may include soft biofidelic spinal cord models for surgical training and trauma research, sensorised cords that can measure deformation in real time, drug-delivery platforms for targeted treatment, and longer-term tissue-engineered or implantable constructs that could support spinal cord repair. The immediate focus will be tailored to the student’s background and interests, but all projects will contribute to the long-term goal of building functional artificial spinal cord systems that can help us understand injury, improve surgery and enable future therapies.

Depending on the student’s discipline, the project may involve:

• Designing and fabricating soft artificial spinal cord models using hydrogels, silicones or other biomimetic materials;
• Characterising the mechanical behaviour of spinal cord tissues and surrogate materials under compression, stretch, bending or impact;
• Embedding sensors to measure spinal cord deformation during surgical simulation or experimental trauma models;
• Developing drug-delivery or diffusion-testing platforms for controlled release of therapeutic agents into spinal cord-like materials;
• Exploring tissue engineering approaches for future spinal cord repair or replacement constructs;
• Using imaging, microscopy, mechanical testing, computational modelling or data analysis to understand structure-function relationships;
• Applying artificial spinal cord models to surgical training, trauma biomechanics, robotic surgery, haptic feedback, rehabilitation technology or regenerative medicine; and,
• Contributing to a broader translational platform for safer spine surgery, improved injury models and future spinal cord repair technologies.

Potential applications: Spine surgery training, spinal cord injury biomechanics, surgical safety, robotic and haptic surgery, targeted drug delivery, implantable biomaterials, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, computational model validation and future spinal cord replacement technologies.

Project suitable for: Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Mechatronic Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Health and Medical Science, Neuroscience, Medical Science, Anatomy, Physiology, Tissue Engineering, Biotechnology, Data Science or related disciplines - Summer Research / FYP / Honours / MPhil / PhD.

Towards better prosthesis sockets for transtibial amputees.

Project description: Traumatic lower-limb amputation profoundly impacts mobility and quality of life for amputees. This project is supported by a Lifetime Support Authority project grant (R24020), and will explore novel lower-leg prosthetic socket design to enhance comfort and usability. The common issues amputees face with current prosthetics will be identified via detailed interviews and the residual limb geometry will be measured from MRI. This understanding will inform a new socket that fits better and is easily adjustable. Our goal is to create a prosthetic socket that reduces discomfort and improves the quality of life for amputees.

Project suitable for: Mechanical Engineering or Health Science - Summer Research / FYP / MPhil / PhD. 

Developing digital twins of human spinal tissues to improve injury prevention, surgical planning, and implant design.

Project description: Human spinal tissues are highly complex, mechanically specialised, and difficult to study experimentally. Current models of the spine and spinal cord are limited by a lack of high-quality human tissue data, particularly for fresh tissues tested under realistic loading conditions. This limits our ability to predict spinal injury mechanisms, personalise surgical planning, design safer implants, and develop realistic experimental surrogates for training and device testing.

This project will contribute to a research program developing digital twins of human spinal tissues, combining fresh tissue testing, medical imaging, histology, biobanking, and computational modelling. The aim is to create experimentally grounded models that capture how spinal tissues deform, fail, and interact across scales, from tissue microstructure through to whole spine mechanics. These models will ultimately support applications in spinal injury biomechanics, surgical simulation, implant development, and human body model validation.

Students will work with human spinal tissue datasets, experimental test data, imaging data, and computational models to help build digital representations of spinal tissues and validate them against real experimental behaviour. Depending on background and interests, the project may involve hands-on laboratory testing, image analysis, finite element modelling, data processing, biobank development, or integration of experimental and computational workflows.

The project will involve:

• Processing mechanical testing data from spinal tissues, including vertebrae, intervertebral discs, ligaments, dura, and spinal cord; 
• Analysing medical imaging and histology data to link tissue structure with mechanical behaviour; developing or validating finite element models of spinal tissues and spinal motion segments; 
• Creating digital twins of experimental tests to improve interpretation and model calibration; 
• Contributing to protocols for fresh spinal tissue collection, characterisation, and biobanking; and, 
• Exploring how tissue-level digital twins can inform injury prevention, surgical training, and next-generation spinal implant design.

Project suitable for: Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Medical Science, Health and Medical Science, Anatomy, Neuroscience, Computer Science, Data Science, or related disciplines; Summer Research / FYP / MPhil / PhD.