Manufacturing news briefs – stories you might have missed

Orthocell grants licence for bone regeneration in dental implant market

Bone and tissue regeneration company Orthocell has signed a global exclusive licence and manufacturing agreement for its Striate+ resorbable collagen membrane product with leading dental implant company BioHorizons Implant Systems. In consideration for the licence, BioHorizons will pay Orthocell $23.1 million. Orthocell will supply BioHorizons with Striate+ products which will market them alongside its own dental implants and tissue regeneration products. Striate+ will be used for guided bone and tissue regeneration procedures in dentistry. Orthocell products are also being developed for use in nerve (Remplir) and tendon (SMRT GRAFT) repair.

Chemists find a way to latch onto methane

UNSW chemists have described a new molecular “vice” that uses the rare metal osmium to bind methane — a potent greenhouse gas — in the journal Nature Chemistry. According to a statement from the university, the research provides evidence of a step to informing new catalysts to store, transport, or transform the gas into methanol. The “osmium-methane” complex could bind methane, a gas that is generally inert, for hours. Lead author James Watson said the greenhouse gas, “will interact with an osmium-metal centred species to form a relatively stable osmium-methane complex. Our complex has an effective half-life of around 13 hours.” The complex is hoped to offer a path to “next generation, more efficient catalysts that can be commercially viable” said co-author Associate Professor Graham Ball.

US football team the first to but Micro-X’s Rover

US football team the Seattle Mariners are the first US sporting team to acquire the Micro-X Rover mobile X-ray system (pictured). Senior Director of High Performance Rob Scheidegger said the lightweight, highly portable and ruggedized Rover was ideally suited for use in the professional sports environment and is a ‘game changer’. The Rover is easy to use and position a patient, providing high-quality images for better patient outcomes, according to Adelaide-based Micro-X.

Silex Systems progressing development of zero spin silicon for quantum computer chips

Hot on the heels of the announcement by Sydney company Silicon Quantum Computing (SQC) of the manufacture of the world’s first integrated circuit at the atomic scale, materials company Silex Systems has announced progress in the development of the raw material used to produce the chip. Quantum chips are manufactured using zero spin silicon (ZS-Si) which is only available in small quantities, with Silex working with SQC to develop a local source. Silex said the third stage of development of ZS-Si production at the Lucas Heights atomic facility in Sydney was ‘progressing rapidly’. The construction of a pilot demonstration facility capable of producing up to five kilograms of ZS-Si annually is now well advanced. SQC is contracted to purchase the first commercial quantities of ZS-Si under an offtake agreement. The three-year ZS-Si project, was awarded a $3 million Federal Government funding grant from the Cooperative Research Centre Projects (CRC-P) in February 2020.

WA deploys first modular hospital wards

The Western Australian government will deploy the first modular hospital ward containing 30 beds in a program that is fast-tracking 530 new beds to the state’s hospital system. The first 30 beds will open at Osborne Park Hospital next week, taking lower acuity patients and relieving stress on the health system. The construction was delivered by Multiplex, boosting local employment, in partnership with the Department of Health and Finance. All 530 beds will be completed in less than a year, and be in service by October. Premier Mark McGowan said: “The modular beds at Osborne Park Hospital have taken just over six months to construct. This agile approach to infrastructure means we have been able to put extra capacity into the system when we needed it most.”

Picture: Micro-X

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