A mechanical heart invented in Queensland needs to go through animal studies. The lack of funds, however, has put the studies on hold.

The team of specialists in Brisbane is supposed to begin transplanting the new artificial hearts in animals next month. Funding requirements, though, has temporarily placed the medical activities in the back seat while the inventor of the device searches for financial aid.

The German government was reported to have approached the Queensland engineer. Malaysia and the United States were also reported to have expressed interest in the device.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said, “We think it's a great project. .. Now, that this one has come to the point were it believes it can commercialize its artificial heart then we'll be looking at how we can support it further.”

The competition for an improved mechanical heart grows as the population of heart patients increase worldwide. In France, heart surgeon Alain Carpentier is set to conduct the first in-man implantation of a mechanical heart he has developed for 15 years. The first surgery is scheduled at the end of 2011.

In 2013, Carpentier will transplant his invention in more than 50 patients in France, Germany, and Italy as part of the pre-clinical testing programme.