Latest news with #Timms
Time Magazine
08-05-2025
- Health
- Time Magazine
Daniel Timms
As a kid growing up in Australia, Daniel Timms shared a passion with his father, a plumber, for building fishponds behind their house, tinkering with how to recycle the water. Years later, his father needed a heart transplant and was struggling with a mechanical valve prone to breaking down while waiting for one. Father and son—who was by then a bioengineering student—realized a better implant design was sitting in their backyard. 'The pond pumps are basically spinning discs,' Timms says—a simpler, more resilient machinery to circulate blood than most implants use. They built prototypes of their improved implant—which they called an artificial heart—on their kitchen table, and Timms continued to improve the design over his career as an engineer. Since mid-2024, people have reaped the benefits through an early FDA-approved study based in the U.S. and simultaneous studies in Australia. In March, an Australian man lived a record 105 days with Timms's device, called the BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart, before receiving a heart transplant. 'It's a paradigm shift,' says Timms, BiVACOR's founder and chief technical officer. A magnetic field levitates the disc, eliminating friction and degradation, so he believes it could potentially become a permanent fix, not just a stopgap measure before a transplant. Plus, clotting and infection are less likely compared to previous types. With over 6 million Americans suffering heart failure—and fewer than 4,500 getting heart transplants annually—it's anticipated that more than 20 patients will have received Timms' device over the course of 2025 in three countries, including the U.S. The goal is to use the artificial heart beyond experimental trials, in regular treatment. Timms's father passed away before he could see this progress. 'We knew we probably couldn't finish it in time for him,' Timms says. 'We worked tirelessly, but not just for him. It was for everyone.'
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
He tried to save his father by building an artifical heart. His creation could replace organ transplants
Gary Timms had suffered from slowly progressive heart failure for more than five years. But in the end, his passing aged 55 was swift and cruel. 'It was very fast, you know, like from the admission to the ICU, and then it was just… very, very quick,' his son Daniel says, his voice halting briefly. What comforts Daniel is the fact that his plumber father – 'a real tinkerer' – had helped him for the duration of his illness on a biomedical engineering PhD project that would one day turn near-death for people facing a similar fate into a second life. The father-and-son duo had worked tirelessly at their family home in Brisbane, Queensland, to make a prototype of what would eventually become the first durable total artificial heart, a mechanical blood pump made from titanium. The device, made by Daniel's company BiVACOR, with the only metal that isn't rejected by the body, made global headlines last month when it transpired that a recipient in Sydney had become the world's first person to be discharged from hospital with the device in situ. He lived with the device for more than 100 days before undergoing surgery to receive a donated human heart replacement. As part of an initial human feasibility study, five heart failure patients in the United States had already previously received the devices – the first procedure took place in Texas last July – but had remained in hospital until a donor heart could be transplanted. 'This patient went home [until his donor heart became available] and was able to be a normal guy, walking the streets of Sydney with a lunch box in his backpack, so yes, it was pretty, pretty good,' Timms says casually. Pretty good indeed, yet something of a humble understatement. Speaking on the run, during a visit with his BiVACOR senior team to a hospital in Taiwan to discuss this new device, fast-talking Timms, 46, is flying high in a blaze of medical glory but he's had no time to celebrate. The striking inventor had already been hailed as a 'medtech heartthrob' when named as a finalist in the 2021 Global Australian Awards – and now, he's fast becoming a household name. 'I think we're just immersed in it so much that it's hard for us to kind of step aside and go, 'wow',' he says. In his most candid and detailed interview yet about his father's key practical input into their invention – and his heartbreaking premature death in 2006 – Timms discloses how they would take over the family home with all sorts of metals, wires and plastics as they worked together on developing the early prototypes. 'I wanted to work on inventing something for my PhD that could even save my father's life [after his initial heart attack in 2001] and he was equally committed and excited.' His mother, Karen, and older brother, Darren, were 'supportive' but Timms admits 'it was really annoying for them'. 'I mean, we're taking over the kitchen and using the oven to mould PVC.' Their winning combination of skills made the project excel: while his father concentrated on the mechanics of the project, the more academically focused Daniel pored over 'at least' 500 medical studies and reports on heart transplants and the devices that were already being used. He learnt that while artificial devices had been used in the past, they largely supported only one part of the heart. 'We were able to learn what the limitations were and what we can do to improve on that. 'Dad had pumps and pipes and everything in the backyard, pumping water around the pool, and those pumps have this spinning disc inside them. 'That's also how they pump [pool] waterfalls and slow them down… and it's also how jet skis work. So it's kind of like, 'Oh, well, why can't we use that kind of approach for the body as well? It's just another system, right?'' Developing the early concept was just the start of an arduous 25-year journey, however; it has taken the past 10 years alone to seek regulatory approval, investment and also trust from the transplant medical community: 'We first sought approval from the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] on purpose as it has the strictest standards.' During the 'calm but tense' operations of each of the six 'very brave' first batch of patients, Timms has been in the theatre himself, overseeing the device being implanted and ensuring it works, alongside a huge medical team. Dr Paul Jansz, the lead heart transplant surgeon for the Australian procedure at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, speaks of his deep admiration for Timms and shared the vital point in the operation when the device was implanted. 'There's always a sort of lump in your throat as you're cutting the heart out, because that's a seminal moment,' he says. 'Once it [the BiVACOR device] worked, it worked very well, and it immediately supported his circulation.' As for the patient, a man from New South Wales in his 40s, who has not been named, his clinical presentation after the surgery exceeded expectations. 'Before the surgery, he could barely walk across the room, so he was almost bed-bound,' Dr Jansz explains. 'Patients like this are on a precipice and can go either way; they can just collapse and arrest, or in this case we get them an artificial heart transplant using a device like this one and their kidneys start working better, their liver starts working better.' As a result, the patients are in more robust health to have their donor heart transplant, when the call comes. But using the device simply as a stopgap is not the end goal for ambitious Timms. His aim is for this device to be used for life and to completely replace the need for donor hearts, along with the precariously long waiting lists. While the 600g device is too large for babies and small children, their widespread approval could potentially decrease the anxiety of parents knowing their child will need to be retransplanted as teenagers or young adults. 'This trial is just a stepping stone to that goal,' he says. 'Ultimately, patients will come to the hospital and get this device and then they don't come back; they have the device for the rest of their life and that will be incredible.' Timms, who says he's so focused on his work that he has no time for hobbies or even a personal life, hopes that by as early as next year, the current trial of 20 patients (and the further trials that will be required) could expand to more countries, including the UK, depending on regulations and funding. There is certainly the need: according to the British Heart Foundation, there are more than 7.6 million people living with heart and circulatory diseases in the UK. Tragically, the deeply cherished loved one who Timms says could have benefited from the device is no longer here. Thankfully, amid his hectic schedule, he's been able to read regular text messages from his mother, Karen, back home in Australia, which remind him of his father's lasting legacy; the lives already saved thanks to his early input. 'She tells me how proud my father would be, and that means a lot… But I know deep down he'd also be saying, 'You've done six, Daniel, but keep your head down and don't get ahead of yourself – there are still many things to do.'' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
23-04-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
He tried to save his father by building an artificial heart. His creation could replace organ transplants
Gary Timms had suffered from slowly progressive heart failure for more than five years. But in the end, his passing aged 55 was swift and cruel. 'It was very fast, you know, like from the admission to the ICU, and then it was just… very, very quick,' his son Daniel says, his voice halting briefly. What comforts Daniel is the fact that his plumber father – 'a real tinkerer' – had helped him for the duration of his illness on a biomedical engineering PhD project that would one day turn near-death for people facing a similar fate into a second life. The father-and-son duo had worked tirelessly at their family home in Brisbane, Queensland, to make a prototype of what would eventually become the first durable total artificial heart, a mechanical blood pump made from titanium. The device, made by Daniel's company BiVACOR, with the only metal that isn't rejected by the body, made global headlines last month when it transpired that a recipient in Sydney had become the world's first person to be discharged from hospital with the device in situ. He lived with the device for more than 100 days before undergoing surgery to receive a donated human heart replacement. As part of an initial human feasibility study, five heart failure patients in the United States had already previously received the devices – the first procedure took place in Texas last July – but had remained in hospital until a donor heart could be transplanted. 'This patient went home [until his donor heart became available] and was able to be a normal guy, walking the streets of Sydney with a lunch box in his backpack, so yes, it was pretty, pretty good,' Timms says casually. Pretty good indeed, yet something of a humble understatement. Speaking on the run, during a visit with his BiVACOR senior team to a hospital in Taiwan to discuss this new device, fast-talking Timms, 46, is flying high in a blaze of medical glory but he's had no time to celebrate. The striking inventor had already been hailed as a 'medtech heartthrob' when named as a finalist in the 2021 Global Australian Awards – and now, he's fast becoming a household name. 'I think we're just immersed in it so much that it's hard for us to kind of step aside and go, 'wow',' he says. In his most candid and detailed interview yet about his father's key practical input into their invention – and his heartbreaking premature death in 2006 – Timms discloses how they would take over the family home with all sorts of metals, wires and plastics as they worked together on developing the early prototypes. 'I wanted to work on inventing something for my PhD that could even save my father's life [after his initial heart attack in 2001] and he was equally committed and excited.' His mother, Karen, and older brother, Darren, were 'supportive' but Timms admits 'it was really annoying for them'. 'I mean, we're taking over the kitchen and using the oven to mould PVC.' Their winning combination of skills made the project excel: while his father concentrated on the mechanics of the project, the more academically focused Daniel pored over 'at least' 500 medical studies and reports on heart transplants and the devices that were already being used. He learnt that while artificial devices had been used in the past, they largely supported only one part of the heart. 'We were able to learn what the limitations were and what we can do to improve on that. 'Dad had pumps and pipes and everything in the backyard, pumping water around the pool, and those pumps have this spinning disc inside them. 'That's also how they pump [pool] waterfalls and slow them down… and it's also how jet skis work. So it's kind of like, 'Oh, well, why can't we use that kind of approach for the body as well? It's just another system, right?'' Developing the early concept was just the start of an arduous 25-year journey, however; it has taken the past 10 years alone to seek regulatory approval, investment and also trust from the transplant medical community: 'We first sought approval from the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] on purpose as it has the strictest standards.' During the 'calm but tense' operations of each of the six 'very brave' first batch of patients, Timms has been in the theatre himself, overseeing the device being implanted and ensuring it works, alongside a huge medical team. Dr Paul Jansz, the lead heart transplant surgeon for the Australian procedure at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, speaks of his deep admiration for Timms and shared the vital point in the operation when the device was implanted. 'There's always a sort of lump in your throat as you're cutting the heart out, because that's a seminal moment,' he says. 'Once it [the BiVACOR device] worked, it worked very well, and it immediately supported his circulation.' As for the patient, a man from New South Wales in his 40s, who has not been named, his clinical presentation after the surgery exceeded expectations. 'Before the surgery, he could barely walk across the room, so he was almost bed-bound,' Dr Jansz explains. 'Patients like this are on a precipice and can go either way; they can just collapse and arrest, or in this case we get them an artificial heart transplant using a device like this one and their kidneys start working better, their liver starts working better.' As a result, the patients are in more robust health to have their donor heart transplant, when the call comes. But using the device simply as a stopgap is not the end goal for ambitious Timms. His aim is for this device to be used for life and to completely replace the need for donor hearts, along with the precariously long waiting lists. While the 600g device is too large for babies and small children, their widespread approval could potentially decrease the anxiety of parents knowing their child will need to be retransplanted as teenagers or young adults. 'This trial is just a stepping stone to that goal,' he says. 'Ultimately, patients will come to the hospital and get this device and then they don't come back; they have the device for the rest of their life and that will be incredible.' Timms, who says he's so focused on his work that he has no time for hobbies or even a personal life, hopes that by as early as next year, the current trial of 20 patients (and the further trials that will be required) could expand to more countries, including the UK, depending on regulations and funding. There is certainly the need: according to the British Heart Foundation, there are more than 7.6 million people living with heart and circulatory diseases in the UK. Tragically, the deeply cherished loved one who Timms says could have benefited from the device is no longer here. Thankfully, amid his hectic schedule, he's been able to read regular text messages from his mother, Karen, back home in Australia, which remind him of his father's lasting legacy; the lives already saved thanks to his early input. 'She tells me how proud my father would be, and that means a lot… But I know deep down he'd also be saying, 'You've done six, Daniel, but keep your head down and don't get ahead of yourself – there are still many things to do.''
NZ Herald
21-04-2025
- General
- NZ Herald
Horizons funding establishes pest animal trap library for Rangitīkei landowners
'Horizons' pest management efforts are extensive, it is a larger region. 'We can't be everywhere so partnering with groups such as the RRCC is key to helping keep predator numbers low. 'Through working together we can achieve far more than we could alone and our native species and habitats have a chance to thrive again.' The funds enabled the purchase of 51 DOC200 traps, six AT220 self-resetting traps, 15 F-Bomb traps and 17 Timms traps plus lures and associated equipment. There will be a particular focus on catching the likes of mustelids, feral cats, rats, hedgehogs, and possums, which all pose a threats to the native bush habitats and species. Mackintosh said introduced animal pests were excellent breeders and could travel significant distances. One stoat or cat can decimate a local population of birds as they will raid nests on the ground and in tree hollows and attack adult birds including whio (blue duck) and backyard chickens. 'We are proud to work alongside the RRCC to support their pest control efforts and we look forward to a long-term relationship that focuses on protecting our native species,' Mackintosh said. The first traps are already in action on a farm in Turakina, home to abundant native species thriving around wetlands. Data from the trapping efforts will be collected and shared on Trap NZ, building valuable insights on conservation efforts. RRCC hoped the traps would reduce the rising impact of pests on native flora, fauna, and ecosystems within the river catchment areas – protecting features such as indigenous bush remnants, whio (blue duck), and wetlands.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rats ‘bigger than cats' are roaming Britain's second-biggest city as garbage collectors strike
Will Timms is a very busy man. The pest controller spends his days criss-crossing Britain's second-largest city to remove rats, cockroaches and other unwanted creatures from people's homes. Lately, Timms' phone has barely stopped ringing as some 17,000 metric tons of garbage have piled up on Birmingham's streets. 'The smell is absolutely unbelievable,' Timms told CNN. 'You've got rotting food, you've got maggots on the floor crawling out of the bags.' Birmingham's garbage collectors have been on strike over pay, so some of the city's 1.2 million residents have not had their waste collected for weeks. Mounds of garbage bags, some several feet high, dot the red-brick streets like pins on a corkboard. In the Balsall Heath neighborhood, wind whistles through the puncture marks in one rotting heap where the rats and mice have burrowed in. 'That's a five-star restaurant for them and they've got a hotel to go with it,' said Timms. Business is booming — so much so that Timms, who works alone, cannot handle the caseload and has passed some jobs to rival pest controllers. He said the number of calls from people finding rats in their homes has shot up around 50% since the garbage workers' strikes started. It's a Dickensian portrait of a city in the world's sixth-biggest economy — a city that once propelled Britain's wealth-creating industrial revolution yet, less than two years ago, declared itself essentially bankrupt. 'There's rubbish everywhere, rats everywhere … (they're) bigger than cats,' Abid, one passer-by in Balsall Heath, told CNN. 'This is Britain. This is 2025. What's going on?' The answer: Nearly 400 garbage collectors are striking over the city government's decision to eliminate a particular role within their ranks. Unite, the union representing the workers, argues that the move blocks workers' pay progression and demotes some staff, resulting in an annual salary cut of up to £8,000 ($10,390) in the worst cases. Birmingham City Council disputes that figure and says it has offered alternative roles and retraining opportunities to affected workers. On its website, the council states that 'no worker need lose any money' and that the staffing changes are crucial part of its attempt to 'become financially sustainable' and modernize its waste collection service. The bitter dispute recently tipped into its fourth consecutive month and has escalated. At first the strikes were intermittent, but in early March they turned indefinite. Only some of the city's garbage collectors and agency staff are still working, and according to the council, fewer than half the usual number of garbage trucks are currently operational. Some parts of the city appeared to be much more affected than others when CNN visited last week. On Monday, the city council declared that the buildup of waste and the public health risk it poses had created a 'major incident' — an official mechanism that allowed officials to deploy extra garbage trucks around the city. The council said that protesters have blocked trucks leaving waste depots, resulting in fewer collections from households. 'It is a dangerous job, it's a dirty job, it's an extremely physically demanding job … so people deserve to be properly rewarded for it,' Onay Kasab, national lead officer at Unite, told CNN. The BBC series 'Peaky Blinders,' about a crime gang set in 1920s Birmingham, put the city on the global map when it premiered over a decade ago — spawning its own tourism industry and bringing the city some sorely needed cachet. But Birmingham is struggling. In late 2023, the Birmingham City Council, run by Britain's ruling Labour Party, filed a section 114 notice — the local government version of bankruptcy — which halted all spending excluding that on essential services such as education and waste collection. It went bust in large part because an equal pay dispute stretching back many years means it must pay out huge sums in compensation to former workers — most of them women who were paid less than men for similar work. But the council's mistakes have added to pressures beyond its control. Demand for its services has risen as Brummies — the name for the city's residents — live longer, while the costs of delivering those services have risen, too. It's a predicament shared by local governments across the country, with many teetering on a financial knife edge. Britain's local authorities receive a big chunk of their funding in the form of grants from the central government. But the value of these grants has plummeted since 2010, when the former Conservative government embarked on a decade of austerity designed to shrink the country's debts following the financial crisis. In England, councils' funding per resident — including both grants and local taxes — is 18% below its level in 2010 on average, according to a report in June 2024 by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Birmingham's misfortunes weigh heavy on Timms, the pest controller. 'I am fuming (about) the way the city is looking,' he said of the recent garbage crisis. 'It's affecting everybody's health.' Still, the onslaught of negative news bothers the lifelong Brummy because it obscures the full truth of his hometown. 'Brummies, there seems to be like a solidarity (between us), and it's fantastic,' he said. 'I love Birmingham to bits.'
