OrganOx set out to design and develop the first clinical prototype of the metra® - a device capable of preserving livers prior to transplantation for up to 24 hours, increasing the number of donor livers that can be used rather than discarded.
At Team Consulting I was part of the core team developing the metra®, responsible for design and usability. The system combined a sterile disposable fluid circuit, an electro-mechanical platform, a touch-screen interface and software capable of simulating the human body - and it had to be small, transportable and robust enough for road and air transport as well as safe, effective operation in surgical theatres.
At the beginning of the project the team met with surgeons, perfusionists, medical equipment technicians, donor coordinators and organ transporters to gain a deeper understanding of the organ transplant process. From these meetings, user needs, key tasks and product requirements were collated on an interaction map.
Several mock-ups were created for testing in the vehicles typically used by organ transport teams - ambulances, vans and light aircraft - allowing us to improve the physical handling of the system.
The metra® combined a sterile fluid circuit, electro-mechanical system, touch-screen interface and software capable of simulating the human body. Early sketch development and ergonomic mock-ups explored how these systems would be integrated.
I was involved in many aspects of the development, taking on responsibilities outside my core expertise - writing aspects of the product and user specification, and developing the sterile fluid circuit, device architecture, user interface, lightweight chassis and the interface between the electro-mechanical hardware and the disposable circuit.
The metra has been used successfully in hundreds of liver transplant procedures and was hailed as a “game changer” by Darius Mirza, professor of transplant surgery at University Hospitals Birmingham. Following Phase I and Phase III clinical trials (Nature, May 2018), the technology was approved by NICE in January 2019 for use across the NHS and can now be found in every UK transplant centre - and in use across three continents.
Our vision at OrganOx has been to develop technology that can improve the supply and quality of organs for transplantation and to make untransplantable livers transplantable. Working with the folks at Team helped us realise this vision and create a truly amazing medical device, the metra, which has already helped to transform the lives of transplanted patients.
Dr Les Russell, Founding CEO, OrganOx
Work undertaken whilst a permanent employee of Team Consulting.
