FROM UNDERGRADUATE TO SPINOUT IN SIX YEARS

Dr Joshua Steer is revolutionising the way patients are fitted for prosthetic limbs – using biomechanical simulations software he developed during his PhD at Southampton.

Joshua has always had an interest in prosthetics and the science behind ‘the fit’. An undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering may not seem like the typical route into this area of biomedicine, but in fact ‘the fit’ was perfect here too.

“Right from the start of my degree at the University of Southampton I became interested in how engineering can be used within healthcare to improve people’s quality of life, such as those who use prosthetic limbs,” explained Joshua. “As part of my final year of study, I worked as a Research Assistant on an internship for Statistical Shape Modelling of Residual Limb Shape for Transtibial Amputees, funded with a grant from FortisNet within the Institute for Life Sciences. It involved researching how to make prostheses fit better by scanning plaster casts of limbs from patients at a clinic in Portsmouth, building a statistical model-based software tool and analysing the data to understand how prosthetic fit varied depending on limb shape.

“The ultimate aim of the project was for these techniques to be used by prosthetists to assist them to design sockets leading to a more comfortable fit. I wrote up the results for my third-year individual project and was awarded the Institute for Mechanical Engineering Vicon Award for the best individual project.”

Those award-winning results were a workflow for analysis of surface scans of the residual limb for people with below-knee amputation. This workflow has since been released as AmpScan, an open-source software package built in Python that is currently being used by research groups in the UK, USA, Italy, Singapore, Canada and Australia.

Joshua continued his multidisciplinary project at postgraduate level and undertook a PhD in the Bioengineering Sciences Research Group, investigating how to further improve the fit and comfort of artificial limbs.

He said: “I progressed my research by developing software which uses biomechanical simulations to provide clinicians with a realtime prediction of fit between the residual limb of a person with a lower limb amputation and their bespoke prosthetic socket.”

The software was developed throughout his PhD, under the supervision of Dr Alex Dickinson, Dr Peter Worsley and Professor Martin Browne. Joshua used techniques from the cutting-edge of engineering and design and adapted them to be used in a clinical setting. This involved using finite element analysis, statistical shape modelling and design optimisation to predict the complex biomechanical interaction between the prosthetic limb user and their device. The aim was to reduce the number of required fitting sessions and improve outcomes through the introduction of these methods to a clinical setting.

“We took the technology and spun-out Radii Devices in 2020, supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Enterprise Fellowship and Future Worlds, the University’s start-up accelerator,” explained Joshua. “At Radii we believe that everyone should have access to the best fitting prosthetic or orthotic, and our mission is to enable people who use prosthetics and orthotics to achieve their goals, sooner.”

Two years later, and Radii is now a team of five employees, including two University of Southampton PhD graduates and one Southampton undergraduate. The company is about to embark on clinical trials of its software to improve prosthetic limb fitting in collaboration with the University and multiple NHS prosthetic clinics, supported by an Innovate UK grant. The results of this trial will be used to evidence the clinical improvements in fitting and support Radii’s aim for its software to be used across the NHS and beyond.

“The support that I’ve had throughout my development at Southampton since my undergraduate degree has been critical to the development of Radii,” said Joshua. “Not just from colleagues and mentors but also from programmes such as the Future Worlds Accelerator and the Bioengineering Sciences Research Group.”

Alongside his work at Radii, Joshua continues to be an active science and engineering communicator in the University of Southampton community, giving guest lectures to engineers, health scientists, and those studying entrepreneurship.

Find out more www.radiidevices.com

Joshua can be contacted via Twitter @JoshuaWSteer