The Bionics Institute has a highly unique business model whereby our medical device research often leads to commercialisation and spin-out companies
Our business model is designed to ensure life-changing tests and treatments get into the clinic as soon as possible to benefit patients.
A 2022 ATO Ruling, unique to the Bionics Institute, allows PAFs to invest in medical device research and utililse a number of repayment options.
The ruling, 2022/54, allows PAFs and PuAFs to make a concessionary loan towards research at the Bionics Institute that can be repaid in cash or other consideration, such as equity in a spin off company.
Commercialisation and translation of our technology is of paramount importance to the Bionics Institute and we have a track record of setting up several spin-off companies including, including DBS Tech for Parkinson’s; Epiminder for epilepsy, Neo-Bionica for medical device prototyping, and NirGenie for infant hearing.
There are more spin-offs in the pipeline for conditions including: Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, tinnitus and Alzheimer’s disease.
We feel that the Bionics Institute is a unique value proposition for impact investment, as investors have the potential to see see life changing medical technology commericalised and transform the lives of those with challenging medical conditions.
Impact investment in medtech research at the Bionics Institute via a private or public ancillary fund (PAF/PuAF) was the focus of an AICD Company Director Magazine article on 1 September 2024, titled: Bionics Institute leverages ATO ruling to appeal to new philanthropists.
Register your expression of interest in learning more about this unique impact investment opportunity below.
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Congratulations to Bionics Institute researchers Associate Professor Rachael Richardson and Associate Professor Andrew Wise on being awarded multi-million dollar grants to support their research.
Shining a light on deep brain stimulation
A/Prof Rachael Richardson has received an AUD$1.15 million Ideas Grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
As the CIA (Chief Investigator), Rachael and the research team are exploring the potential for hybrid simulation (using both light and electricity) to be used to improve Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) treatments for Parkinson’s disease.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an established therapy for several neurological and psychiatric conditions. Bionics Institute researchers have been investigating an innovative approach to increase the precision of the therapy to reduce the risk of serious side effects. The research team recently discovered that hybrid stimulation (a combination of electric and optogenetic stimulation) improves the precision of neural activation – allowing targeted neurons to be stimulated.
With this grant, we will be undertaking pre-clinical investigations to determine if hybrid stimulation can safely and more effectively activate neurons in the brain known to be effective in treating Parkinson’s disease.
The original project lead, Dr Niki Gunewardene (now at CSL), will continue to provide input on the project as an external consultant.
Learn more about our optogenetics research here.
Developing neurotrophin therapy for clinical translation
Associate Professor Andrew Wise has been awarded an AUD$1.67m grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to progress our hearing therapeutics research closer to clinical trials.
A/Professor Wise and his team are developing a world-first treatment for hearing impairment using nanotechnology to deliver a particular drug (called growth factors) to the inner ear.
While there’s no currently available treatment to restore hearing function we (and others) have shown that certain types of growth factors can protect the delicate nerve cells in the inner ear and repair their connections with the sensory hair cells.
However, it’s difficult to deliver these growth factors into the inner ear where they’re needed, as the drug break down quickly in the body.
The Bionics Institute and our collaborators at the University of Melbourne are using nanotechnology to overcome these delivery challenges.
In preclinical trials, we have discovered that loading the growth factors into tiny ‘delivery particles’ called supraparticles enabled delivery of the growth factors into the inner ear. This gives the growth factors the best chance of having a therapeutic effect – repairing the damage to the connections between the auditory nerve fibres and hair cells.
This funding will enable us to progress the technology towards a first in human clinical trial, which aims to improve hearing function in those who have noise induced and age-related hearing loss.
Read more about our hearing therapeutics project here.
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Support Us
Great ideas lead to great innovation
Donate nowWe’re researching tests and treatments to improve the lives of people like Scarlett. All gifts over $2 are tax deductible.
Scarlett’s Story
Scarlett has had to cope with the distressing impacts of epilepsy her entire adult life.
“I had my first seizure while I was at the supermarket with Mum,” she says. “Neither of us knew what was happening, or what to do. I got this sick, déjà vu sensation, and I lost feeling in my left side. I couldn’t control what I was saying. It was really scary.
“It took six months for me to get a correct diagnosis. In that time, I had hundreds of seizures, and I was tested for everything from breast cancer to diabetes.”
Despite everything Scarlett has been through, living with epilepsy remains a daily struggle.
Our innovative early-stage research projects are laying the groundwork for future treatments that has the potential to help people like Scarlett.
What is the Bionics Incubator Fund for early-stage research?
Help fund pioneering research
Innovation lies at the heart of the Bionics Institute and early-stage ideation is strongly supported through the Bionics Incubator Fund (BIF).
Ideas funded by the BIF have led to several projects, including:
Investigating a new electrical stimulation treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy
Adapting a vagus nerve stimulation device to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
Will you help turn cutting edge research into the lifechanging treatments and therapies of the future?
Your donation can help speed up research from a seed of an idea into a fully developed research projects and be a catalyst for innovation.
Great ideas lead to great innovations
There are many groundbreaking research projects being supported by early-stage funding, including:
A new electrical stimulation treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy
With positive preliminary findings and thanks to significant early-stage funding from a generous foundation, lead researcher Dr Tomoko Hyakumura is now able to move forward with evaluating the effectiveness of abdominal vagus nerve stimulation to reduce the frequency and severity of seizures without the side effects caused by current treatments.
A drug free approach to relieve chronic pain
Thanks to seed funding from The CASS Foundation, Professor Rachael Richardson and her team have started developing a treatment that uses a combination of electricity and light to provide drug-free management of chronic pain. It works by selectively stimulating nerve activity to mask the pain and provide desperately needed relief.
Without this vital support, many promising solutions might never get off the ground, delaying the development of life-saving treatments and innovations to improve patient outcomes.
Want to support the future of research like this?
Early-stage research for life-changing devices & treatments like this is made possible by donations from our supporters.
Your support today could turn the seed of an idea into a new treatment in the future.
Find out how you can support research innovation here.
The Bionics Institute hosted seminar in October 2024. Nearly a year since we launched our clinical trial into a new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, attendees got to get the latest on the clinical trial, get an insight into new related research, and hear about our PhD program.
The Bionics Institute are developing a new treatment to improve memory function in people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Developed by Bionics Institute researcher, Professor Kate Hoy, this new treatment, called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), uses magnetic pulses to alter brain activity.
View a recording of the seminar below:
- Head of Cognitive Therapeutics, Professor Kate Hoy: Investigating a new approach to treating Alzheimer’s disease
- Senior Clinical Research Fellow, Dr Oscar Murphy: Exploring how Alzheimer’s disease affects communication within the brain
- PhD Student, Ms Jacqueline Noonan: The PhD Journey
- TMS demonstration and Q&A
How TMS aims to help in Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease has been shown to interfere with important networks in the brain and this disruption in neural communication is linked to the cognitive difficulties experienced.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) aims to improve brain function in people with Alzheimer’s disease by using magnetic pulses to alter brain activity.
This non-invasive approach has shown potential to restore healthy neural network function and improve memory in Alzheimer’s disease.
Our research team now aims to evaluate TMS in a larger clinical sample using a personalised treatment approach.
Event highlights
Professor Kate Hoy: Investigating a new approach to treating Alzheimer’s disease
Dr Oscar Murphy: Exploring how Alzheimer’s disease affects communication within the brain
Ms Jacqueline Noonan: The PhD Journey
TMS demonstration and Q&A
Melbourne’s Bionics Institute has been awarded AUD$4.8 million (USD $3.2 million) by an American charitable trust to fund research into the development of a world-first, personalised, electrical treatment for Crohn’s disease.
Finding new ways to prevent and treat Crohn’s disease is a key focus for New York-based organisation The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, which has committed to funding this groundbreaking research over the next three years.
Dr Jessica Langer, Program Officer from the Helmsley Charitable Trust, said: “Current treatment options are insufficient to meet the needs of people with Crohn’s disease, and are often only effective in a subset of patients or lose efficacy over time. That’s why we are excited to support this novel, adaptive treatment approach, which holds promise to improve the lives of people with Crohn’s disease.”
Bionics Institute Board Chair, Mr John Stanhope AM says that the goal of the institute is to provide a better quality of life for people suffering from hard-to-treat medical conditions.
“We are delighted to partner with the Helmsley Charitable Trust to develop a device that could revolutionise the treatment of Crohn’s disease,” he said.
Led by Bionics Institute’s Professor James Fallon and Associate Professor Sophie Payne, researchers will upgrade a Bionics Institute vagus nerve stimulation device, currently in clinical trials for treating Crohn’s disease, into an intelligent device that monitors inflammation and adjusts therapeutic stimulation in real time.
Professor Fallon says: “The current version of this device is programmed to give three hours of electrical stimulation per day with the intention of keeping patients with Crohn’s disease in remission. We aim to design a new version of the device that stimulates the nerve only when inflammation is detected – essentially delivering personalised therapy.”
Associate Professor Payne says that despite advances in drug therapies, 70% of patients with Crohn’s experience recurring symptoms after a period of remission, and usually require surgery to remove diseased parts of their bowel.
“We hope our drug-free device leads to a day when people with Crohn’s disease have better quality of life and won’t have to depend on medication or need invasive bowel surgery,” she says.
Crohn’s disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that can cause severe abdominal pain, diarrhoea, fatigue, weight loss and malnutrition. It is estimated that 10 million people worldwide suffer from IBD.
Melbourne mother of two Sara Ferola says she struggles every day with the debilitating effects of Crohn’s disease. “Some days the pain is so bad, I can’t even get out of bed or shower without being doubled over in agony,” she says. The Bionics Institute’s research into new drug-free treatments gives people like me hope of a better future.”
Learn more about our vagus nerve device for Crohn’s disease.
Learn more about The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust
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Tinnitus researchers at the Bionics Institute published findings of an important study in the Journal of Neural Engineering in August 2024 that has a twofold impact.
Firstly, it provides definitive evidence that the tinnitus diagnostic tool developed by our researchers can detect changes in tinnitus severity or presence in the same person, which means the technique can be used to determine the effectiveness of potential treatments.
Secondly, it provides a better understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the suppression of tinnitus with cochlear implant use.
Lead tinnitus researcher, Dr Mehrnaz Shoushtarian says that use of cochlear implants is known to improve the perception of tinnitus (hearing sounds that are not present externally), although it can have the opposite effect in some cases.
In this study, researchers investigated whether changes in brain networks with a cochlear implant turned on and off were associated with tinnitus perception, as rated subjectively by 14 participants.
Dr Shoushtarian said: “The findings showed that we can objectively measure changes in tinnitus perception in an individual, which will be critical for monitoring treatment effectiveness in our upcoming clinical trials of emerging treatments in collaboration with clinician researchers.”
Bionics Institute Chief Technology Officer, Professor James Fallon said: “These findings could also pave the way for effective use of cochlear implants, or other less invasive techniques, as a treatment for tinnitus.”
You can access the publication and read more about our tinnitus research, which uses a non-invasive neuroimaging technique called fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) to detect the presence and severity of tinnitus here.
The findings showed that we can objectively measure changes in tinnitus perception in an individual, which will be critical for monitoring treatment effectiveness in our upcoming clinical trials of emerging treatments in collaboration with clinician researchers. Dr Mehrnaz Shoushtarian
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Our novel treatment for rheumatoid arthritis great breakthrough will begin a clinical trial in late 2024.
The treatment uses an electrical medical device to target the nervous system and trigger the body’s natural anti-inflammatory response. It could help bring hope of relief to the significant number of people with rheumatoid arthritis who do not respond to drug therapy and suffer ongoing pain and disability.
Incredibly, lead researcher Dr Sophie Payne and her team have progressed the treatment, currently in trials for Crohn’s disease, from the seed of an idea to clinical trial in just two years. This achievement was made possible with the kind generosity of Neville and Di Bertalli, two of the Bionics Institute’s most long-standing supporters.
The promising results, developed with their generous contribution, have enabled us to leverage other funding and we are delighted to announce a successful grant from the Victorian Medical Research Acceleration Fund (VMRAF) to help our researchers move one step closer to creating a drug-free and pain-free future for those with rheumatoid arthritis.
This is one of several grants that have been made possible by Di and Neville’s support of the Bionics Institute. For every dollar they have donated, we have been able to secure a further three dollars, multiplying their impact and leaving a legacy for generations to come.
Di and I have seen the world benefit from the many leaps forward in medical treatments over our lifetime, like the cochlear implant. We, and our family, are passionate about supporting medical research and inspiring the next generation of brilliant minds to transform lives. Neville Bertalli
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Innovation lies at the heart of the Bionics Institute and our researchers are supported to explore innovative research ideas.
Early-stage seed funding is crucial to enable researchers to investigate new ideas that could lead to groundbreaking treatments for patients. It provides the financial support needed to conduct preliminary research.
We have set up a Bionics Incubator Fund (BIF) to provide the seed funding our researchers need to gather essential data and refine their hypotheses. Without this vital support, many promising solutions might never get off the ground, delaying the development of life-saving treatments and innovations to improve patient outcomes.
Our rheumatoid arthritis device, which is about to go to clinical trial, started as a BIF project. And there are many other vital research projects being supported by early-stage funding, including:
A drug-free approach to relieve chronic pain
Chronic pain affects a staggering 1 in 4 people worldwide. Opioids, commonly prescribed for pain conditions, give inconsistent and often inadequate relief of symptoms, and can lead to serious side-effects, addiction, and overdose.
Thanks to seed funding from The CASS Foundation, Associate Professor Rachael Richardson and her team have started developing a treatment that uses a combination of electricity and light to provide drug-free management of chronic pain. It works by selectively stimulating nerve activity to mask the pain and provide desperately needed relief.
The success of this research could revolutionise the way we interact with the nervous system repetition and help those suffering from chronic pain.
The CASS Foundation is delighted with the preliminary findings of the Bionics Institute’s research into a novel stimulation technique that aims to give unprecedented control over the transmission of pain signals to the brain. David Abraham AM Chair, The CASS Foundation
A new electrical stimulation treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy
Epilepsy affects an estimated 150,000 Australians, with a third continuing to have seizures despite medication. Current treatments for epilepsy include drug therapy, surgery and vagus nerve stimulation at neck level – treatments which can cause unpleasant side effects and may not be suitable for all patients.
With positive preliminary findings, and thanks to significant early-stage funding from a generous foundation, lead researcher Dr Tomoko Hyakumura is now able to move forward with evaluating the effectiveness of abdominal vagus nerve stimulation to reduce the frequency and severity of seizures without the side effects caused by current treatments.
I’m grateful for the opportunity BIF gave me to work on an early-stage research project I’m passionate about, investigating a new electric nerve therapy for epilepsy. With all the resources available at the Bionics Institute, I feel very well supported and the research we do is of the highest quality. Dr Tomoko Hyakumura, Research Fellow, Bionics Institute
Bionics Institute researchers need your help to make their groundbreaking ideas a reality. Your donation towards the Bionics Incubator Fund today, could turn the seed of an idea into a new life-changing treatment in the future.
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A celebration of our rich history in medical innovation was held on 2 July, hosted at Government House by Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Margaret Gardner AC, Governor of Victoria.
The event marked 46 years since the successful implantation of the first multi-channel cochlear implant. Invented and developed by Bionics Institute founder, Laureate Professor Grame Clark AC at the University of Melbourne, the cochlear implant has given the joy of hearing to over 750,000 people worldwide.
It was a pleasure to host an event to celebrate the vision of the Bionics Institute and recognise the contributions of those who make its work possible.” Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Margaret Gardner AC, Governor of Victoria
The cochlear implant not only changed the way hearing loss is treated forever, but also built the discipline of Biomedical Engineering and led to the creation of the Bionics Institute (then known as The Bionic Ear Institute) in 1986.
Since then, our researchers have continued to build on this knowledge and expertise to put the Bionics Institute and Australia at the forefront of medical device research. We have expanded into the development of devices and treatments for some of the world’s most challenging conditions, including Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s.
The celebration brought together many of our wonderful supporters that represent the community and dedication behind the continuous progress of Bionics Institute research. Progress that would not be possible without the caring contributions of our donors like you.
Innovative medical breakthroughs like the cochlear implant are only made possible by collaboration between researchers, engineers and healthcare professionals, with the vital support of board members, volunteers and caring supporters.” Robert Klupacs, CEO
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We are incredibly proud that Bionics Institute researchers were included in the 2024 Best Neuroscience Scientists in the World by Research.com.
Congratulations to:
- Professor Kate Hoy – Head of Cognitive Therapeutics
- Associate Professor Andrew Wise – Lead, Hearing Therapeutics
- Professor Malcolm Horne – Professor in Residence
- Professor Dexter Irvine – Honorary Research Fellow
- Professor Mark Cook – Clinical Collaborator
Professor Kate Hoy, has developed a treatment program with the aim of improving brain function for people with Alzheimer’s disease.
She has led a number of world-first brain stimulation clinical trials, including trials for the treatment and prevention of dementia.
Prof Hoy’s depth and breadth of experience in the field of non-invasive brain stimulation is largely unparalleled, having worked with a variety of stimulation methods, diverse patient populations, and a wide range of research methodologies.
“My team and I work hard to develop new treatments for people with serious cognitive disorders, such as Alzheimer’s diseases, and it’s great to receive this recognition.” Professor Kate Hoy
Associate Professor Andrew Wise is working on a world-first drug treatment which aims to restore hearing loss using nanotechnology.
The nanoparticle technology to delivers growth factors to protect the inner ear sensory cells from degeneration and promote repair following hearing loss.
His current research aims to progress this novel therapeutic approach to a first in human clinical trial that will enable the clinical translation of this exciting technology.
“Our work is aiming to develop new treatments for hearing loss to improve the lives of many people around the world with significant hearing impairment.” A/ Prof Andrew Wise