The 2D Health PDRAs visited the manufacturing facility of the Theme I Industrial Partners, Smith & Nephew, on 14th February. They toured the Minster and Montana sites of Smith & Nephew in Hull, where technical experts demonstrated how the commercial wound dressings are fabricated by using magnetron sputter coater and wet-bath process in pilot-scale production facilities like ACTICOAT and DURAFIBER. They were introduced to the high scale silver-coating technology and associated facilities for developing pioneering wound-care products, followed with a visit to the histology, biomechanics, and microbiology labs. The visit concluded with a career discussion session designed to inform the PDRAs about potential job opportunities in the R&D sector of the Biomedical Industry. The PDRAs really enjoyed the visit and left with a much greater understanding of how Smith & Nephew undertake both their R&D and product manufacturing processes.
Many thanks to Darren Wilson (Smith & Nephew) and Avishek Pal (2D-Health PDRA) for organising this visit.