Dr Matt Oldakowski is a biomedical engineer who works with doctors to identify important clinical problems where existing treatments are invasive, difficult to use or simply not good enough.
Matt’s work currently focuses on two major healthcare challenges. The first is young children with glue ear, where fluid trapped behind the eardrum can cause hearing loss and may eventually require surgery. The second is older people with fragile bones, where the screws used to repair fractures can sometimes lose their grip in weak bone.
Although these problems are very different, his approach is the same: understand the problem from the perspective of patients and clinicians, then use engineering and science to develop a better solution. Dr Oldakowski has invented and developed two medical technologies designed to address these problems.
Earflo is a new treatment for children with glue ear that uses a simple “sippy-cup” style device to gently deliver air through the nose while a child swallows, helping the ears clear naturally at home. The technology has progressed from an idea developed through Stanford Biodesign to four clinical studies, including work with Aboriginal children in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia, before moving through manufacturing, regulatory approval and market launch. Earflo has now been used by hundreds of patients, with the aim of helping children restore their hearing and avoid surgery.
Matt’s other major area of research grew from his PhD, where he invented an expandable surgical screw. Instead of relying on a conventional screw to grip weak bone, the implant expands after insertion to create stronger fixation. This technology is now being developed by REX Ortho for applications including hip fractures and spinal surgery. We have ethics approval to begin our first-in-human clinical study, which will use advanced imaging techniques to precisely measure how well the implant performs after surgery.
Across both projects, Matt’s research focuses on taking scientific and engineering discoveries beyond the laboratory and developing them into technologies that can ultimately improve patients’ lives.