Project launched to develop adaptive 4D health tech devices
Researchers at the University of Birmingham and Imperial College London have launched a three year project to improve how medical devices adapt to changes in the body over time.
The 4D engineering of healthcare technologies (4D Health Tech) initiative will explore how devices can be designed to account for time-based factors such as bodily movement, tissue repair and age-related degeneration.
Sophie Cox, project lead at the University of Birmingham, said: “Our bodies change over time as we grow, move and regenerate, but products designed to replace or repair our bodies typically neglect the dimension of time, compromising their function and lifespan.
“Our vision is to transform the way we engineer medical devices.”
The project will promote materials that degrade predictably and support faster healing, alongside new design methods, manufacturing processes and patient-specific testing to develop better medical devices for diverse populations.
Time-dependent changes are not typically incorporated in medical device engineering. For instance, paediatric implants need to be replaced as children grow, and bone implants may not degrade at the same rate as tissue regenerates.
It is hoped that incorporating time as a “fourth dimension” into medical devices will promote new functionality and extend their lifespan, supporting efforts to improve patient outcomes and manage NHS spending.
The 4D Health Tech project is funded by £1.2 million from the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
It forms part of a broader £10m UKRI investment in response to the national Tomorrow’s Engineering Research Challenges (TERC) report, which identified key areas where engineering research can contribute to long-term national priorities.
Jane Nicholson, executive director for research at EPSRC, said: “Engineering is the cornerstone to a more sustainable, successful and thriving future for the UK.
“From developing renewable energy solutions to creating smart cities, engineering innovations are driving progress in every sector.
“These new networks will address the strategic challenges outlined by the TERC report.
“Together, these researchers present a hugely ambitious, thoughtful response to the economic, environmental and social challenges we all face.”
In February 2025, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence announced it was consulting on changes to its HealthTech programme for the evaluation of medical technologies, which could see more innovative healthcare technologies adopted by the NHS.
This followed fresh guidance from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in January 2025 to help medical device manufacturers prepare for the post-market surveillance (PMS) regulation, which comes into force on 16 June 2025.
