Three projects at CÚRAM medical devices centre at NUI Galway have been recognised for their groundbreaking innovation.
The MedTrain research projects a CÚRAM have been chosen for inclusion in the European Commission’s Innovation Radar as ‘Key Innovators’.
The first project, directed by Dr Elaine Waters and supervised by Dr Michelle Kilcoyne is trying to correct the issue of antibiotic resistant infections of implanted medical devices.
When this happens patients end up having to get the implant replaced and spend more time in hospital.
Dr Waters is developing new tissue-friendly carbohydrate coatings for medical devices that will help them repel infections.
The second project, led by Dr James Wilson, supervised by Dr Andreas Heise, is breaking new ground in helping repair wounds and tissue regeneration.
He is creating a biodegradable adhesive implant that will accelerate tissue repair and regeneration.
And the final project named is a new system for delivering medication to the brain led by Dr Tania Hidalgo Crespo.
This novel way of delivering siRNA to the brain has the potential for changing the way we treat a wide range of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, depression and brain tumours.
The Innovation Radar system is about making information about key EU funded projects available to the public on one, easy to access platform.
Through it people will be able to see crucial technological and scientific breakthroughs being made by researchers.
Looking up information on the three CÚRAM projects and other European research simply a matter of looking at the website, or on apps for iOS and Android.
Professor Abhay Pandit, Scientific Director at CÚRAM at NUI Galway said the platform provides a “valuable opportunity” for researchers to highlight the importance of their work.
“Making research information accessible to a wide public audience is a core element of the CÚRAM ethos.”
“We welcome the inclusion of three of our research projects in the platform and hope to contribute more widely to the space in future.”
