Biotechnology
Develop novel molecular processes and techniques for use in biotechnology
A key aim of this research theme is to develop and enhance world-leading molecular research techniques that can then be utilised in the biotechnology and biomedical industry. This includes investigating novel crop varieties to tackle the ever-increasing threat of disease, and developing targeted CRISPR technology that will assist alleviating challenges produced by climate change. The theme also encompasses the development of novel in vitro mammalian cell models and tests for disease detection.
Paul McCabe: GRASS: Green Research Applications For Market Success. (Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnership Grant) 2018-2020
Paul McCabe: One plant – dozens of applications: Establishing a breeding programme for the highly versatile crop Cannabis sativa. (IRC Enterprise Partnership Postdoctoral Scheme) 2019-2021
Paul McCabe / Joanna Kacprzyk: Pharming of high value compounds from plant cell cultures grown in bioreactors. (UCD Newman Postdoctoral Fellowship) 2019-2021
Rainer Melzer: The development of wheat varieties with enhanced disease resistance and gene containment. (UCD-CSC Scholarship) 2017-2021
Rainer Melzer: Towards establishing hemp as a sustainable crop for Irish agriculture. (IRC-EPA postgraduate scholarship) 2019-2023
Rainer Melzer: A developmental and genetic analysis of flower development in hemp - Cannabis sativa (UCD-CSC Scholarship) 2019-2023
Carl Ng: CRISPR on Guard: a novel approach for regulating gene expression in stomatal guard cells for climate smart agriculture. (IRC) 2016-2020
Antoinette Perry: epiCaPture: developing a urine test for early detection of aggressive prostate cancer. (Enterprise Ireland) 2019-2021
Jeremy Simpson: Development of a high-content screening imaging and analysis platform to dissect nanoparticle-cell interactions in 3D cell culture systems. This project provides a national platform to enable quantitative studies of novel classes of nanoparticles, as therapeutic delivery devices, to be tested on in vitro 3D animal cell models. (SFI Curam Research Centre for Medical Devices) 2016-2021
Jeremy Simpson: Molecular dissection of the mechanisms of nanoparticle penetrance into 3D cancer cell models. This project aims to develop several new models of cancer spheroids representing various human tissues and organs, and then investigate the mechanisms by which synthetic nanoparticles enter these spheroids and then transit between individual cells. (IRC) 2019-2023