The University of Oxford spinout has developed two of the most complex medical devices ever designed and built in the UK. They maintain livers and kidneys in a functioning state outside the body for at least twice as long as conventional cold preservation techniques, dramatically increasing the number of transplants for patients, eradicating night-time operations for clinicians, and reducing overall healthcare costs for providers.
A separate patient-connected device is under development and has entered early-stage clinical trials with the aim of providing ‘liver dialysis’ using either a human or porcine organ outside the body. If successful, this may help patients in liver failure to recover without the need for a transplant or provide sufficient time to receive a liver transplant.
Operating at body temperature (37C), the devices replicate the physiological conditions of an organ within the body by perfusing it with a red-cell suspension reconstituted from donor blood of the same blood type. This allows fully automated, operator-independent preservation of an organ in a functioning state outside the body for periods of up to 24 hours clinically and several days pre-clinically.
The technology, which was initially designed to preserve livers, has enabled over 6,000 transplants across four continents and twelve countries. Medical facilities adopting the technology have reported up to a 30% net increase in transplants, with waiting times and waiting list mortality cut by more than half.
Chair of the MacRobert Award judging panel, Dr Alison Vincent CBE FREng, said: 'Despite facing stiff competition from our other two finalists, Synthesia and Microsoft Azure Fibre, OrganOx is a worthy winner of the MacRobert Award, which has been celebrating the strength, creativity and global impact of British engineering for more than half a century. OrganOx has developed a truly game-changing and life-saving innovation that is at the forefront of efforts to increase the number of donor organs available for transplantation.'
Professor Constantin Coussios OBE FREng FMedSci, who co-founded OrganOx with liver transplant surgeon Professor Peter Friend FMedSci FRCS, said: 'Biology teaches engineers a lesson in humility. The liver and kidney represent two of the most non-linear and multivariate systems to attempt to control and emulate but the reward for eventually doing so successfully after two decades of effort is immense. Each quality-assured organ that has functioned effectively in our devices outside the body saves the life of a patient, over 6,000 to date, and gives that patient and their loved ones the gift of time and a quality of life previously thought irreclaimable. This achievement and the many more to come would not have been possible without the academic, technological and translational excellence of the UK innovation ecosystem. Peter and I would like to express our deepest gratitude to the exceptional OrganOx multi-disciplinary team for its dedication in bringing the metra device for liver and kidney to life, and to the Royal Academy of Engineering for the recognition of the impact that OrganOx’ groundbreaking organ technologies are having on patients, surgeons and the cost-effectiveness of healthcare systems globally.'
OrganOx was named the winner of the 2025 MacRobert Award at the Royal Academy of Engineering awards dinner on 8 July at The Londoner Hotel. The team behind the innovation was presented with the MacRobert Award gold medal and a prize of £50,000 by Science Minister Lord Vallance KCB HonFREng FRS FMedSci.
Run by the Royal Academy of Engineering, the MacRobert Award has recognised transformative UK engineering that also demonstrates commerciality and societal benefit for more than 55 years. From EMI in 1972 for the CT scanner to Touch Bionics in 2008 for the world’s first bionic hand, OrganOx joins a host of companies whose major medical innovations have earned them this iconic award.
The MacRobert Award winning OrganOx team are:
Professor Constantin Coussios OBE FREng FMedSci, Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer
Professor Peter Friend FRCS FMedSci, Co-founder & Chief Medical Officer
Jacob Barrett, New Product Development Manager
Rupa Basu, Chief Commercial Officer
Jessica Day, New Product Development Manager
Dr Toni Day, Global Director of Quality and Regulatory Affairs
Matt Ellen, Software Engineer
Richard Kent, Head of Product Engineering
Craig Marshall, Chief Executive Officer
Chris Morris, Director of Clinical Services, New Ventures
Andy Self, Senior Vice President of New Ventures
Daniel Voyce, Senior Vice President of Product Development and Innovation
Clint Watts, Head of Software
Read more about this story on The Royal Academy of Engineering's website.