The Centre is physically situated in the Mechanical Engineering Building at the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch New Zealand. Its membership covers both staff and researchers within the University of Canterbury as well as those in the Christchurch School of Medicine and Canesis Ltd.
The interdisciplinary nature of bioengineering research requires clear, concise and unambiguous communication across a number of distinct disciplines. The University of Canterbury has considerable research expertise (of international standing) in areas, which could provide significant advances in the biomedical and bioengineering areas. The engineer, the cell physiologist, the mathematician are now all required to link together to solve some of the "Grand Challenge" problems of the 21st Century.
For example, heart disease (atherosclerosis) has been shown to depend on a variety of factors such as fluid dynamics, arterial geometry, protein function and gene transfer. Interdisciplinary skills will lead to new ways of drug infusion and more efficient surgical procedures. It will also help clinicians to properly visualise the body with sophisticated aids to diagnosis.
