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Schemes for Engineers in Research and Development
Research Fellowships: Profiles
Dr Ruth Wilcox - University of Leeds
Vertoplasty: innovations in cement application
Background
 Dr
Dr Ruth Wilcox won her EPSRC/Royal Academy of
Engineering Fellowship in 2002. Her research is
focussed on a new kind of treatment for spinal
fractures. The treatment, called ‘vertebroplasty’,
is a keyhole surgery technique that involves the
injection of a cement material into the fractured
vertebra. Once set, the cement stabilises the
fracture site and significantly reduces the pain
associated with the injury. Vertebroplasty is used
for the treatment of compression fractures of the
spine. There are over 120,000 such fractures each
year in the UK, commonly as a result of
osteoporosis. Other, more invasive, treatments are
often not suitable for these patients because of
their frailty and lack of bone strength. However,
there are several complications associated with
vertebroplasty. Ruth’s research is focussed on how
the technique can be optimised to reduce the
likelihood of these complications occurring. In the
course of the Fellowship, she has developed both
experimental and computational models of the spine
and of the cement injection process, which have
enabled the potential complications to be more
clearly identified and new processes to be
investigated. The models are also now being used for
a number of other applications including studies of
disc and total hip replacements.
Impact
During the Fellowship, Ruth been successful in
obtaining a number of grants which has enabled her
to establish her own area of research, and she has
developed several new national and international
collaborations that have led to joint grant
proposals and publications. Ruth also become
actively involved in public awareness activities and
in promoting engineering to the wider community.
Although she is based within the School of
Mechanical Engineering, she works within the
interdisciplinary Institute of Medical and
Biological Engineering. This has been beneficial
both to herself, in providing access to the
extensive facilities and expertise, and she
believes, now also to the Institute itself as she
develops this new area of research within its
portfolio. The multidisciplinary nature of the group
has also enabled her to work closely with clinicians
and industrial collaborators. The Fellowship has
been crucial to all her activities in allowing her
the freedom to develop an area in which she had a
particular interest and providing time to
concentrate purely on research at this early stage
of her academic career.
The Future
As for what next? The Fellowship has enabled Ruth to
gain the critical mass needed to take this research
forward far beyond the five years. She hopes that
the tools, expertise and collaborations developed
will lead to innovative and more effective
treatments for a whole range of patients in years to
come.
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