Among the projects receiving funding are studies on bone cancers and on the prevention of hospital-acquired infections from medical devices.
Under the Research Ireland Frontiers for the Future programme, 22 high-risk, high-reward research projects will each receive a share of €20m. The initiative aims to give innovators and independent investigators the chance to pursue their research, with the potential for breakthrough discoveries across health, tech and sustainability.
“The 22 projects announced today under Research Ireland’s Frontiers for the Future programme are ambitious in both scope and scale, spanning areas from pioneering cancer therapies to advancing a more sustainable and circular economy, and much more besides,” said the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Skills, James Lawless, TD.
Among the funded projects is GlycoMetalGuard, which is a study into glycoconjugate metal complexes as targeted bacterial therapeutics and protective coatings suitable for medical devices. Led by Dr Joseph Byrne at University College Dublin, the team is exploring how innovative antimicrobial coatings and therapies can prevent hospital-acquired infections stemming from medical devices, improving patient safety and quality of life.
Stromco, led by professor Laoise McNamara at the University of Galway, is investigating why cancers that spread to the bone, including metastatic disease and multiple myeloma, can trigger aggressive and damaging bone loss. The project aims to guide the development of future therapies for people living with cancer-related bone disease.
A Trinity College Dublin project, under the leadership of Prof Matthew Campbell, will investigate whole brain blood-brain barrier disruption in gliomas, using advanced imaging and genetic tools to investigate how small blood vessels in the brain respond to the growth of GBM, primary brain tumours that are amongst the most aggressive cancers. The team will use pre-clinical models of the disease in an effort to develop new forms of therapy for this difficult cancer.
The awardees are based across eight research bodies nationwide, at Atlantic Technological University, Dublin City University, Trinity College Dublin, Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork, University College Dublin, University of Galway and the University of Limerick.
Commenting on the announcement, Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, the CEO of Research Ireland, said, “Curiosity-driven research funding is an essential part of a healthy, purposeful and forward-looking research ecosystem.
“Through the Frontiers for the Future programme, Research Ireland supports researchers to take intellectual risks and to pursue ideas that might not yet have a clear pathway but could fundamentally reshape our understanding of the world around us.”
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