Government to Fund 10 Pioneering UCD Research Projects to Help Accelerate Ireland’s Recovery Through Innovation

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, has announced funding of €39 million for a total of 30 flagship scientific research projects, including 10 University College Dublin (UCD) projects. This new investment in scientific research will facilitate commercialisation and create jobs.

Further information on the UCD projects funded is provided below.

Administered via Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) Principal Investigator (PI) Programme, the projects will be supported through to 2015.

 
Minister Richard Bruton TD with Professor Pat Guiry, UCD School of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

The funding will support over 150 researchers in total working in areas identified by Government as key for developing new commercial products and services from scientific research, including ICT, health/life sciences and energy.

Industry collaboration will be central to the projects, and companies involved will include Intel, Analog Devices, J&J and Hitachi and Equinome, the NovaUCD-headquartered, equine genetics company.

Making the announcement, Minister Bruton TD said, “Over the past decade, Ireland has built-up a very substantial infrastructure and a reputation for basic scientific research, and many of the high-end jobs we have created in multinational and indigenous companies are directly related to these achievements. However, a central part of this Government’s plan for jobs and growth is to ensure that this research is better targeted at turning the good ideas of researchers into good products and good jobs. Already, investments of €700 million from multi-national companies in 2011 were in R&D – but we must do more.”

“To achieve this, we have introduced legislation to allow SFI to go beyond basic research to investigate commercial solutions; we have identified 14 areas which the Government is targeting for commercialisation; and we have adopted a series of reforms to make it easier to commercialise the results of State-funded research, including a one-stop-shop.”

“Today, I am very happy to announce that the Government is investing a further €39 million in 30 new research projects in areas which the Government has identified as having particular potential for jobs and growth, including ICT, health/life sciences and energy. What is particularly heartening is that much of this research is being done in collaboration with companies who are seeking to find new products and services, including Intel and Analog Devices. I congratulate SFI on their achievements; we must now build on this to ensure that even more of this work is translated into commercial products and services and ultimately the jobs we need”.

Welcoming the announcement, Seán Sherlock TD, Minister of State with responsibility for Research and Innovation, commented, “Investment is key to ensuring that robust and results-driven research continues to take place and thrive here in Ireland. The funding announced today will help to bring the best of these research projects to the next level, creating impactful, innovative products and services for the Irish and international market.”

Also welcoming Minister Bruton’s PI funding announcement, Director-General of Science Foundation Ireland, Prof. Mark Ferguson, said, “The PI projects for 2012, selected following a highly-competitive, peer-reviewed process, are investigating some of the most important issues facing humanity today. From research into cancer, strokes and Alzheimer’s, to communication networks, next-generation thermoelectric devices and improving future flood risk predictions for Ireland among others, recipients have demonstrated both an in depth understanding and an ability to make measurable strides in their respective fields.”

ENDS

29 June 2012.

For further information contact Micéal Whelan, University College Dublin, Communications Manager (Innovation), e: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie, t: + 353 1 716 3712 or Alva O’Cleirigh, Science Foundation Ireland, t: +353 1 607 3249 or e: alva.ocleirigh@sfi.ie.

List of UCD Principal Investigator (PI) Award Recipients:

1. Professor Hans-Benjamin Braun, UCD School of Physics

Physics behind next generation magnetic storage technologies.

2. Professor Orla Feely, UCD School of Electrical, Electronic and Communications Engineering

Nonlinear effects in circuits and systems analysis, control and applications.

3. Dr Oliver Blacque, UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science

Dissecting secretory and endocytic membrane transport pathways in targeting proteins to cilia, a prevalent disease-associated cellular organelle.

4. Professor Patrick Guiry, UCD School of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Asymmetric Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Lipoxin Analogues and Tetrahydrofuran Derivatives.

5. Professor Desmond Higgins, UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science

Clustal Omega and the future of Multiple Alignments.

6. Dr Emmeline Hill, UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science

Integrated genomics approaches to understanding genetic contributions to system-wide exercise physiology parameters in a large animal model.

7. Dr Jennifer McElwain, UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science

Predicting biome-level vegetation responses to future global change: Implications for future flood risk.

8. Professor Donal O'Shea, UCD School of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

BF2-Tetraarylazadipyrromethene Based Stimuli-Responsive Near-Infrared Fluorescent Imaging Platforms.

9. Professor Helen Roche, UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population Science

Dietary fatty acids, adipose inflammasome mediated activation of inflammation in insulin resistance of novel therapeutic targets.

10. Professor Cormac Taylor, UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science

Regulation of inflammatory gene expression by oxygen and carbon dioxide during hypoxic inflammation.

In addition to the 10 awards to University College Dublin, 7 were awarded to TCD; 2 to UCC; 2 to Tyndall National Institute, Cork; 2 to NUI Maynooth; 2 to University of Limerick; 1 to Cork Institute Technology; 1 to NUI Galway; 1 to Dublin City University; 1 to DIT and 1 to Teagasc.