HUNTER electrical engineers, part of an "award-winning, life-saving" project, say local opportunities will slow the region's brain drain.
"This is the sort of project an engineer dreams of working on," Design + Industry (D+I) Newcastle lead electronics engineers Mitchell Bright said.
"Most of the time in Newcastle we get the opportunity to work on mining protection equipment or something to do with the mines.
"While those are interesting on their own, it's nowhere nears as satisfying as a medical project in a cutting-edge field like this where you are contributing to the betterment of humanity."
D+I Newcastle were recently involved in a project which won top honour at the 2022 Australian Good Design Awards. The project, a benchtop isotope generator, is slated to "revolutionise the way cancer is treated globally".
The technology was developed by medical technology company Advancell who engaged D+I to design a functional product. The generator produces clinical doses of Lead-212 for use in targeted cancer treatment, a process usually done in a "bedroom-sized" nuclear reactor.
"We are seeing astonishing outcomes with targeted Alpha therapy," AdvancCell chief technology officer, Dr Simon Puttick said.
"There is a big problem however - the supply of the isotopes that make up targeted alpha therapies is nowhere near enough."
The limited supply, and short -11 hour - half-life of Lead-212 means treatment has been difficult to access. The generator developed by AdvanCell and D+I addresses this issue by allowing on-site isotope production.
Electronics design engineer at D+I, Hugo Denham-Wells, said making life-saving ideas a reality is "immensely satisfying".
"You look at it on a screen in models and drawings, think about it so much in your head. Then one day, after all that effort, out comes this physical thing in the real world that works and helps people," Mr Denham-Wells said.
"Everyone has a personal connection with cancer I think, most people know someone who has suffered from it and its amazing to be able to lessen that burden."
Established 35 years ago, D+I has mechanical engineers and industrial designers working across their Sydney and Melbourne locations who collaborate with the team in Newcastle.
"The exciting thing for me as an electronic engineer is to know that we are working with a lot of other designers that can make a product which looks really polished, really scmick," Mr Bright said.
"They take something that we make, which is really functional, and turn it into something that is really impressive."
Mr Denham-Well said, as well as the eight-month turnaround, a major challenge in the process was dealing with the radiation.
"Less so for us but on a mechanical front it was very challenging," Mr Denham-Wells said.
"While it's quite small, this box is filled with shielding components and heavy bricks of tungsten to protect the electronics and people who do have to approach this machine.
"The device itself actually has no buttons so there's no human interface. It's all done remotely just to discourage human interference in the process."
The 25-year-old University of Newcastle graduate said he was lucky to secure an electrical engineering job in Newcastle. As the economy diversifies, he said, projects like the isotope generator can be part of the future.
"Everyone is working under the assumption that if they want to do this cutting-edge work you have to go elsewhere. To capital cities or overseas," he said.
"But now there is local opportunity for local talent and I think that brain drain will slow."
While the company is largely working with international companies, Mr Denham-Wells said he would like to see local collaboration.
"We've got so many clever people, so many amazing institutions like the uni, like HMRI, like John Hunter Hospital doing incredible things and I think D + I is great pathway to bring that work to the most people."
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