Biomedical Engineering: Implant Development and Surface Engineering

Biomedical Engineering: Implant Development and Surface Engineering

The basic definition of the term Biomedical Engineering is the application of engineering principles, practices, and technologies to the fields of medicine and biology especially in solving problems and improving care. The Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering of the University of Malta is very active in this field of research with projects related to medical device design, process development, synthesis of new materials, advances in surface engineering and specialist material testing. This lecture will be divided into five parts and will deal with: a brief introduction to the islands of Malta; the design of the MaltaHIP orthopaedic implant; the process and material development of the BioSA implant ; a brief introduction to corrosion-wear; and the use of surface engineering to reduce corrosion-wear in orthopaedic applications.  

Prof. Ing. Joseph Buhagiar  

Joseph Buhagiar received his B.Eng (Hons) degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Malta in 2003. He joined the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering of the University of Malta as an Assistant Lecturer in 2004 and in 2008 he received a PhD degree in Plasma Surface Engineering and Characterisation of Biomedical Stainless Steels, at the University of Birmingham (UK). He became a University of Malta Lecturer in 2008. He was promoted to senior lecturer in 2013 and associate professor in 2016. He is on the Editorial board of the Journal of Surface Engineering and represents Malta on the Coal and Steel Committee. In 2013 he was appointed Honorary Consul of the Republic of Colombia with jurisdiction over Malta (Decree 0613 of 2013). In 2018 he was conferred the National Order of Merit of the Republic of Colombia in the grade of Knight (Decree 1728 of 2017).
 

Prof. Ing. Bertram Mallia 

Prof. Ing. Bertram Mallia is an associate professor within the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering (DMME), Faculty of Engineering, University of Malta. He carried out his undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Malta where he was awarded a degree in Mechanical Engineering with first class honours in 2002. In 2004, he was awarded a joint scholarship to pursue his doctoral studies at the University of Leeds, UK. His main research focus is the development, characterisation and testing of novel surface engineered layers for the enhancement of the corrosion-wear response of orthopaedic implant alloys and for the improvement of neural electrode performance.