Dr Naomi Paxton | Medical Engineering & Biofabrication expert

The QUT Alumni Team sat down with Naomi to discuss her research, career journey to date and what advice she would give other QUT higher degree research alumni.

Summarise your expertise and current role. What are you working to achieve?

I am a Senior Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Oregon in the field of medical engineering and biofabrication: applying 3D printing in healthcare. My vision is to increase the availability and accessibility of personalised healthcare interventions using 3D printing. In my current role, I am working in partnership with a local hospital network to 3D print patient-specific anatomical models to assist in surgical planning. I am also using cutting-edge 3D printing to fabricate tissue engineered implants that regrow damaged or diseased tissues.

What inspired you to pursue your area of work/research?

I was inspired to pursue biofabrication research after being live in the audience at TEDxQUT 2014 when Professor Mia Woodruff presented on the emerging research field of biofabrication. In her talk, she presented her vision for the ‘Hospital of the Future’ and how 3D printing can be used to fabricate tissue substitutes. As a physics graduate, I was excited by the opportunity to apply my physics and maths training to this highly multidisciplinary research field and contribute to this exciting trajectory of using 3D printing to improve human health.

Why is your work important?

3D printing technology offers an incredibly powerful opportunity to decentralize manufacturing of healthcare products and fabricate a wide range of personalised medical devices on-demand at the point-of-care. I’m excited for the future of healthcare where we can use 3D printed implants that entirely regrow and restore damaged or diseased tissues, such as bone defects after tumour removal or chronic conditions such as osteoarthritis, using 3D printed ‘scaffolds’ that regrow the bone tissue and dissolve over time. Biofabrication technology promises a future where things like long-term complications from permanent surgical implants and organ donor waiting lists are a thing of the past, because 3D printing is revolutionising our ability to fabricate patient-specific healthcare products. This will have widespread impact not just in high socioeconomic or metropolitan areas, but also in rural and remote healthcare facilities that can perform local on-site manufacturing of 3D printed products in-house.

What are some of your career highlights? What excites you most about your field/current work?

I’ve been incredibly privileged to work in some world-leading research teams in Australia, Germany, UK and now in the US, including the Biofabrication & Tissue Morphology Group at QUT, led by Prof Mia Woodruff, the prestigious Stevens Lab at Imperial College London, as well as in my current lab at the University of Oregon led by Prof Paul Dalton. While in Germany, I was selected to give a TEDx talk on biofabrication research, which was an incredible experience to share my research and the exciting future of biofabrication to an international audience.

The most exciting part of biofabrication research is getting to work in incredibly multidisciplinary research teams, working alongside materials scientists, mechatronics engineers, chemists, biologists and others with diverse backgrounds and training that each bring their own problem solving approaches and technical skills to solving our research challenges.

What research challenge would you like most to overcome in the next 5 years?

In the next 5 years, I would like to overcome many of the technical, logistical, and economic challenges of deploying 3D printers in every hospital in the country, so that as a routine component of surgical planning, surgeons can request a 3D printed model of patient anatomy to assist them in planning and optimising their surgical approach. The same way a whiteboard is in every staff meeting room, I’d like to see low-cost 3D printing be an accessible option for hospital staff to improve their ability to plan surgeries, reduce in-theatre decision-making, costs, and recovery time for patients.

What are your hopes for the future in the biofabrication field?

I hope that biofabrication will provide vital treatment options for patients suffering from complex or chronic conditions, offering 3D printed tissue substitutes that entirely heal damaged or diseased tissues and permanently restore functionality of tissues and organs. In the future, I hope biofabricated products will be widely available to patients as a permanent, regenerative approach to healthcare treatments and offer faster recovery, lower healthcare costs and an improved quality of life for patients.

What were some of the best parts of undertaking a PhD at QUT? And how did it help prepare you for your career?

QUT offers an exciting and dynamic environment for those wanting to undertake higher degree research, with a strong focus on preparing graduates for careers in industry as well as academia. The Graduate Research Education and Development (GRE+D) offers incredible support to PhD students at all stages of candidature, including during proposal and planning stages, connecting students with industry placement opportunities and for thesis writing and navigating the examination process.

You were a STEM ambassador at QUT for many years, what advice would you give women pursuing a career in the STEM fields?

Be fearless – the landscape for women in STEM is (slowly) shifting and there are some incredibly rewarding opportunities for fulfilling careers in STEM, both in academia and industry. Working in male-dominated fields where women remain underrepresented can be a challenge, but I encourage you to seek mentorship from powerful role models and be inspired by their courage and resilience in paving a path for women in STEM.

What advice would you give others who choose to move countries to pursue their research ambitions?

Gaining international experience in research is invaluable. Academic systems in other countries vary widely and I have found that navigating both the pros and cons of institutions outside Australia is immeasurably beneficial for my personal and professional growth. Plus, I have absolutely loved exploring new countries, cultures, food, landscapes and experiences!

What is one skill you couldn’t live without and why?

There are a couple!

Formatting digital content using Microsoft products to make it look like it was done using professional software – it might just be my superpower. Making reports look like they were produced using LaTeX (but without the highly involved coding), making excel-generated graphs look like they were made in MATLAB (again, without the coding), or using creative animations in PowerPoint to make slides look like they’re professionally animated are my favourite time- and effort-savers!

I am a huge advocate for learning to love writing! Writing underpins so much of academia (thesis, papers, book chapters, grants, reports…) and scientific communication in general. It got so much easier for me after I optimised my process. I found formulas for structuring my thoughts into paragraphs and the time of day I write most productively so I don’t force myself to write outside of this. I also found online resources such as the University of Manchester Academic Phrasebank (Google it if you haven’t heard of it before!) for when I’m struggling to consolidate my ideas into sentences and workshops and writing retreats to kick-start my motivation and excitement for writing.

Do you have a question for Naomi? Connect with her on Twitter or LinkedIn.