Centre for BioNanoInteractions
Mission Statement
CBNI (Centre for BioNanoInteractions) is Ireland’s National Platform for BioNanoInteraction science. It is now one of the world’s leading Centres of knowledge for bionanointeractions applied to the fields of nanosafety, nanobiology and nanomedicine, and is pioneering many of the new techniques and approaches in the arena. It has strong links and co-operations with academia, institutions, industry, and governments world-wide.
Working as a virtual centre from 2005, PRTLI4 Funding was awarded in October 2007, which was the official start of the centre. Design planning for the building (refurbishment of Science Centre South, in conjunction with Food and Health and BioPharma) is underway, with actual building due to begin early 2009. The Centre for BioNano Interactions will occupy 2,000 m2 of space in Science Centre South (initially).
Funding
Funding of €24m capital to re-furbish Science Center South (with Food and Health and BioPharma) has been received along with external funding in excess of €10m since it was established.
Currently there are 4 PIs (Kenneth Dawson, Giuliano Elia, Iseult Lynch, Dolores Cahill), 4 associated PIs and multiple collaborators across 8 Schools. 16 peer reviewed publications have been published since October 2007, with several more in press or submitted.
Key Research Achievements
- US national Academy of Science Cozzarelli prize for conception of the Nanoparticle-protein corona and its dynamics and evolution.
- Establishment and first Chair of the International Alliance for NanoEHS Harmonisation (IANH).
- First multi-centre toxicology study on nanomaterials showing that careful application of protocols could render this arena a quantitative science (published in Nano Letters).
- Discovery that nanoparticles enter and exit cells with enormous rapidity (within a few minutes) via multiple pathways, some of which are energy-independent.
- Named collaborator on NSFs CEIN at UCLA, which is a $40M centre for environmental impacts of nanotechnology.
Affiliated Groups / Centres:
- The NanoScale Function Group (Suzi Jarvis), Mass Spectrometry Resource, Centre for Research into Infectious Diseases (CRID), and Advanced Manufacturing Science Research Centre.
- Linkages to National Earth Science Institute (NASI), Complex and Adaptive Systems Laboratory (CASL), the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT).
http://cbni.eu/
