With combined funding of more than €11m, these projects are tackling medicine targeting, sustainable devices and inclusivity in research.
Four researchers at the University of Galway have received awards under the European Commission’s Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions-Doctoral Network programme (MSCA DN), which is a part of Horizon Europe 2020. Three of the awardees are leading projects that aim to make medical treatments safer, faster and more effective.
Dr Mihai Lomora will lead a €4.2m project which uses advanced 3D brain models to test tiny machines being developed to bring medicine “exactly where it is needed”. The project is called ‘CerebroMachinesTrain’, and it avoids animal testing, making research faster, more ethical and accurate. The project involves 14 partners from eight countries. Four PhD students are also set to receive support for this project.
Lomora is a lecturer and a principal investigator in bio(material) chemistry in the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences. He is also a funded investigator at Cúram Research Ireland Centre for Medical Devices.
“By combining advanced drug delivery with relevant brain models, we’re not only speeding up research – we’re also reducing the need for animal testing. This is a big step forward for both science and society,” Lomora said.
A €2.71m project medical devices project will be led by Dr Willian Ronan. The project called ‘Medalloy’ will focus on making minimally invasive medical devices, such as stents and heart valve supports, stronger and longer lasting. The project includes partners from six countries and will train nine PhD students.
Ronan is a lecturer and principal investigator in biomedical engineering in the College of Science and Engineering.
“Nitinol is a remarkable material used in life-saving heart devices, but it can still be improved. Through the Medalloy project, we’re making these devices more durable and affordable,” said Ronan.
While Dr Eimear Morrissey is leading the €4.4m ‘Edict’ research project. It is a research and training network led by the Health Research Board-Trials Methodology Research Network based at the University of Galway, which seeks to include older adults, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities or those from lower-income backgrounds in clinical trials.
It will develop new tools, methods and policies that aim to make clinical trials more inclusive, fair and effective across Europe.
A lecturer in evidence-based healthcare at the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Morrissey’s project will train 16 PhD researchers across 26 organisations in 12 countries.
Commenting on the project, Morrissey said, “Clinical trials are how we assess the effectiveness of new treatments and improve healthcare, but they often fail to include the full range of people affected by disease and who could benefit from treatments.
“Who gets included in clinical trials shapes the evidence we rely on to make healthcare decisions.”
Alongside these, the university is partnering with Goldsmiths, University of London and the Galway’s Cúirt International Festival of Literature for a unique new project called ‘Decadocs’.
It is a doctoral network dedicated to the study of ‘decadence’ – the disruptive societal phenomenon traditionally associated with accelerated decline and decay.
Dr Muireann O’Cinneide, a researcher in English, media and creative arts at the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies, is involved in this project.
Decadocs will explore late nineteenth-century travel and mobility as producing radical explorations of counter-cultural sexualities and complex imperial identities.
“University of Galway and Goldsmiths want to explore how seemingly elite frameworks of cultural reception can become reshaped by alternative cultural encounters, and how even travel associated with fixed locations and decayed pasts can become a way to imagine different geographies and futures,” said O’Cinneide.
The MSCA-DN programme provides training to make the researchers more creative, entrepreneurial and innovative, boosting their employability in the long term.
Prof Fidelma Dunne, the director of the Institute for Clinical Trials at University of Galway, commented, “These projects show how research can make a real difference in people’s lives. University of Galway is proud to be leading the way in creating smarter, safer and more sustainable healthcare solutions.”
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