Professor Andrew Taberner

Biography

Andrew Taberner is a graduate of the University of Waikato, where he studied and lectured in Physics and Electronic Engineering before joining the University of Auckland as a Post-doctoral Fellow in 1999.

In 2002, Andrew joined the BioInstrumentation Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA, as a post-doc and subsequently as a Research Scientist.

After six years at MIT developing instrumentation for muscle research, drug discovery and drug delivery, Andrew returned in 2008 to the University of Auckland, where he is a Professor with the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and the Department of Engineering Science.

Andrew enjoys teaching the principles and methods of instrumentation and measurement within the BE(Hons) in Biomedical Engineering degree programme and leading a team of post-graduate students in the ABI Bioinstrumentation Laboratory in novel instrumentation design, construction and development.

Research | Current

Andrew develops medical devices, scientific instruments, and measurement/control systems, for answering questions and meeting needs in muscle research, soft-tissue mechanics, tissue imaging and drug delivery.

Related links

• Bioinstrumentation
• Instrumentation for measuring tissue mechanics and thermodynamics
• Real-time measurement and control in tissue-machine instruments
• Development of technologies for needle-free jet injection

Funding

Andrew's research is supported by funding gratefully received from:

        
and the Health Research Council of NZ.

Teaching | Current

BIOMENG.341: Bioinstrumentation and Design
BIOMENG791: Advanced Biomedical Engineering Design
ENGSCI.700: Part IV (Honours) project

Postgraduate supervision

Principal Supervisor

PhD

• Bahareh Madadkhahsalmassi: Just-in-time glucose sensing for a jet-injector based diabetes management system
• Jiali Xu: Needle-free blood extraction for insulin therapy using a controllable jet injector
• Jarrah Dowrick: The transient dynamic performance of cardiac muscle during interventions
• Amy Garrett: Reconciling the energetic performance of hearts and their trabeculae
• Emily Lam Po Tang: Efficient experimentation of cardiac myocytes​
• Michael Hoffman: Lancet and Needle-Free Blood Insulin Therapy Using a Controllable Jet Injector​

Co-Supervisor

PhD

• Alex Dixon, Non-destructive estimation of mechanical properties of biological membranes​
• Soroosh Haji Hosseinnejad, High stroke-to-length ratio direct-drive electromagnetic actuators for upper limb rehabilitation robots
• Alistair Newcombe, Disposable pressure sensing arrays for improving the effectiveness of pelvic floor health
• Hayden Randles, Control of soft actuator systems using elastic optical waveguide based length sensors
• Yahya Yahya, System Identification Techniques to Diagnose Rotator Cuff Injuries
• Saeed Mollae, Builiding responsive prostheses with soft actuator arrays
• Julia Musgrave, Mechanics and energetics of human cardiac diabetic tissues
• Sam Simmonds, Inter-organ communication in the gut: elucidating the bioelectrical basis of the gastrointestinal junction

Completed

PhD

• Nick Do, (2020) Linear synchronous motors for needle-free jet injection​
• Melissa Davidson, (2020) Investigation of the change in pelvic floor muscle stiffness during pregnancy
• Sam Richardson, (2019) Development of an optical coherence tomography based skin cancer diagnostic tool (Co-supervisor)
• Kieran Brennan, (2019) Real-time fluid penetration imaging for needle-free jet-injection (Principal Supervisor)
• James McKeage, (2018) High-volume jet-injection (Principal Supervisor)
• Toan Pham, (2018)The causes of cardiac dysfunction associated with cardiac hypertrophy (Co-supervisor)
• Nari Kim (2018) Multi-scale Electromechanics of the Heart (Principal-supervisor)
• Amir HajiRassouliha (2017) A toolbox for precise and robust deformation measurement (Co-supervisor)
• Matthew Parker (2017) Model-based identification of the mechanical properties of living skin (Co-supervisor)
• Nikini Puhulwelle Gamage (2017) Model-based prediction of brain injury associated with shaken baby syndrome (Co-supervisor)
• Ming Cheuk, (2017) Volumetric Characterisation of Contracting Cardiac Trabeculae (Principal supervisor)
• Alex Anderson (2016) The Cardiac Myometer: Measuring Matters of the Heart.​ (Principal supervisor)
• Rhys Williams, (2015) Developing a Needle-free Jet Injector for Viscous Fluids (Principal supervisor)
• Adam Reeve, (2014), The mechanics of vascularised tissue (Co-supervisor)
• Callum Johnston (2014), A highly sensitive cardiac muscle microcalorimeter (Principal supervisor)
• Tom Lintern (2013), Investigation into soft tissue damage to an infant’s brain during head shaking associated with child abuse (Co-supervisor)
• Casey Jowers (2013), Tools for Neuroscience: Developing Devices to Study Brain Injury and Disease (Co-supervisor)
• David Russell (2012), Implantable biomedical microsystems and sensors (Co-supervisor)

ME

• Stephen Creamer, (2020) Mechanical testing of gel-loaded cardiomyocytes (Main supervisor)
• Dong Hoon (Kevin) Choi, (2019) Mechanical testing of chemically-permeabilised cardiac tissues (Co-supervisor)
• Michael Seow, (2018) Soft pneumatic transducer with force sensing and integrated 6-axis position/rotation sensing (Co-supervisor)
• Hayden Randles (2018) Soft hydraulic transducer arrays for controlled support and positioning of applied loads (Co-supervisor)
• Sam Chang, (2017) Development of a Probe for Measuring Pelvic Floor Stiffness (Co-supervisor)
• Amy Garrett, (2017) The energy efficiency of realistically-loaded working cardiac trabeculae (Principal supervisor)
• Riaz Uddin, (2016) A calorimeter for measuring the heat production of biopsied skeletal muscle (Principal supervisor)
• Nick Do, (2016, Converted to PhD) Electronic control system for large-volume jet injector (Principal supervisor)
• Xinxin (Helen) Li (2015): Automated blood extraction and drug delivery (Principal supervisor)
• Alex Dixon (2015): Pericardial Polarimetry (Principal supervisor)
• Mihailo Azhar (2012): Tracking 3D surface deformation using multiple cameras (Co-supervisor)
• Paul Roberts (2011; converted to PhD), Evaluating Cardiac Function during Exercise using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Co-supervisor)
• Matt Parker (2011), A Multicamera Thermal Stereoscope (Co-supervisor)
• Carlos Lopez-Muedano (2010): Optical system for inexpensive disease diagnosis (Principal supervisor)
• Casey Jowers (2009; converted to PhD), The Cell Gym  (Co-supervisor)
• Nishan Peiris (2009), An Instrument to Measure Forces and Torques during Skiing (Co-supervisor)
• Darren Alvares (2009), A 3D Strain Measurement System for Soft Material (Co-supervisor)

Distinctions/Honours

2020:  James Cook Research Fellowship, Royal Society of New Zealand 
2019:  Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society.
2018: The Emerging Technology best paper award, 9th Energy Conversion Congress and Exhibition, IEEE Power
           Electronics Society. The Taylor and Francis Prize for Best Poster Presentation, 15th International Symposium             on Computer Methods In Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering. 
2017: Faculty of Engineering Sustained Excellence in Teaching, Top Teacher, and Teaching Development Awards
          Senior Member, IEEE. 
          The "best paper" award: IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference 2017
          RSNZ Marsden Fund award (AI on Faststart grant)
2016: Faculty of Engineering Top Teacher Award
          Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society.
2015: Faculty of Engineering, Top Teacher Award
          RSNZ Marsden Fund award (AI on Faststart grant)
          Staff Recognition Award, University of Auckland
2014: Faculty of Engineering Top Teacher Award
          Winner, NZ Innovators Award: Innovation Excellence in Research
          Highly commended, NZ Innovators Award: Innovation in Health and Science
          Finalist, NZ Innovators Awards, Innovator of the year.
2013: Visiting Professor, MIT (Boston)
2011: Faculty of Engineering Top Teacher Award
          RSNZ Marsden Fund award (PI on Full grant)
2009-2012: Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Liggins Institute
2002-2008: Research Fellow, Research Scientist, MIT (Boston)
2002-2005: FRST Post Doctoral Fellowship Award, Post Doctoral Associate, MIT (Boston)
1999-2001: RSNZ Marsden Post Doctoral Fellow
1994-1997: University of Waikato Postgraduate Scholarship

Responsibilities

• Principal Investigator, Bioinstrumentation, Auckland Bioengineering Institute
• Co-director, ABI Bioinstrumentation Laboratory
• Associate Director, Research, Auckland Bioengineering Institute
• Principal Investigator and Technology Platform Leader, Medical Technologies Centre of Research Excellence
• Research Team Leader, NSC10 Spearhead project: Medical Technology: Home and Community Care ​

Areas of expertise

• Instrumentation and Measurement
• Bioinstrumentation and Bioengineering
• Measurement and control at the tissue:machine interface
• Mechatronics and robotics

Committees/Professional groups/Services

President, IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society, New Zealand Chapter
Technical Program Co-Chair​​, I2MTC2019 Conference
Editor, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Pulse Magazine
Member, ABI Executive and Budget Committees
Member, Physiological Society of NZ
Member, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology
Member, IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society
Member, Technical Program Committee, ICST conference, 2011-2015
Committee Chair, 2014 Workshop of the IEEE I&M Society NZ Chapter