This one takes guts
It isn’t often that you hope the results of your work get literally flushed down the toilet. Then again it’s not often that you find an ECSE Final Year Project student working on a cure to chronic constipation at the Murdoch Institute, Royal Melbourne Children’s hospital.
Andre’s project is part of research currently being conducted to find out the electrical properties of the large bowel in pigs. The pilot study hopes to develop the clinical procedure, equipment and create the database of statistics required to show the exact effect electrical current has on the bowel.
Chronic constipation, which according to Andre, accounts for 1-in-10 cases of constipation in adolescents, cannot be treated with laxatives or other common remedies. The discoveries made will allow chronic constipation to be treated in a controlled, safe and effective manner. However, his research has the potential to unlock the electrical properties of the bowel that could open the door, not only to helping kids go to the toilet but also to the potential of electronically controlling the bowels of patients with spinal injuries, which is why the results of his research are so significant and why his team received a $24,000 grant from the Murdoch Institute to continue its work.
Although Andre is set to complete his FYP on time he will continue on with the Murdoch institute until their research is complete. He graduates next year.