Future Space: Grow MedTech collaborates with Thackray Museum of Medicine for new exhibition
The new exhibition will explore the cutting edge of medical innovations in our region.
In the first collaboration of its kind for Grow MedTech, the coming months will see the Thackray Museum of Medicine showcase six current projects in Future Space, part of a £4 million redevelopment project for the museum.
The refurbishment is set to tell the story of medicine – a subject which could not be more relevant at this time in our lives – in new and dynamic ways.
“The museum has an interesting history, starting as a small family-run chemist shop in 1902, developing into a major medical supply firm, supplying drugs and medical instruments and equipment around the world. We thought as an initial exhibition in Future Space, we wanted to display current regional projects to show how far we have come in the area” said Sue Mackay, Collections and Programming Director.
“The museum’s founding collections are from the Thackray company who started a small chemist shop near the LGI in 1902. Through collaboration and innovation in medtech products, they became a major manufacturer of instruments and equipment, with a worldwide distribution centred on Yorkshire. Grow MedTech’s work is a contemporary extension of this and so it is a perfect fit for our Future Space gallery”.
“We look forward to working with more medtech projects in the future and welcome approaches from those with an idea for public engagement”
Sara Liptrot, Administrative Assistant for Grow MedTech said: “By curating the content for this exhibition I’ve learnt so much about medical technology innovations coming out of our region. We’re really excited to see the museum in person.”
Dr Jen Edwards, University Academic Fellow in Musculoskeletal Medical Technologies, has a project on display at the exhibition: “To have my work on display at Thackray Museum of Medicine is a real honour. I have a vested interest in public engagement, it opens our eyes to even more possibilities to explore.”
The Thackray Museum of Medicine is the UK’s foremost independent medical museum. It is unique in its independent status, strategic location and its internationally significant collection. The museum has its origins in a small family-run chemist shop, opened in Leeds in 1902 by Charles F. Thackray. Today, with over 50,000 objects and some 26,000 written works covering all aspects of the history of medicine, the Thackray Museum of Medicine is home to one of the most significant collections of its kind in the world.
The Grow MedTech exhibits on display are:
Best foot forward: Jen Edwards, University Academic Fellow, Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, University of Leeds; Dr Paul Rooney, NHS Blood and Transplant: Tissue and Eye Services; Mr David Russell, Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Virtual recovery: Ivan Phelan at Sheffield Hallam University’s Impact VR Lab; Sheffield Children’s Hospital; National Hand Transplant Centre at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
The turn of the screw: Bradford University Chemistry and Polymer Engineering Departments; Innovate Orthopaedics Ltd, (a company that manufactures bone repair products); Fortius clinic (specialist sports medicine surgeons)
The virtual physiotherapist: Dorothy Monekosso, Professor of Computer Science, Leeds Beckett University; Stroke survivors, physiotherapist and occupational therapists to help develop and test the technology.
Rock-a-bye baby: Sheffield Hallam University; Sheffield Children’s Hospital.
Genuine PPI: Patrick Statham worked with Versus Arthritis on this project. He is a researcher at the University of Leeds, studying how to regenerate a patient’s own cartilage following damage caused by osteoarthritis.
Image credit: David Lindsay
