What If We Could Swallow Medicines Instead of Needing Painful Injections?

(opens in a new window)What If We Could Swallow Medicines Instead of Needing Painful Injections? is the title of a new paper by (opens in a new window)Prof. David Brayden published by the scientific journal ‘(opens in a new window)Frontiers for Young Minds’ by researchers at (opens in a new window)CÚRAM, the (opens in a new window)Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Centre for Medical Devices.

‘Frontiers for Young Minds’  makes cutting-edge research available and accessible to young audiences by bringing  young people and researchers together to develop articles that tell readers about the creative and exciting advances in research that will have an impact on how we live.

The journal’s website states that; ‘Distinguished scientists are invited to write about their discoveries in a language that is accessible for young readers, and it is then up to the kids themselves – with the help of a science mentor – to provide feedback and explain to the authors how to best improve the articles before publication.’

(opens in a new window)Professor David Brayden, Co-Director of CÚRAM and Professor of Advanced Drug Delivery at the University College Dublin (UCD) School of Veterinary Medicine and UCD Conway Institute is the lead author of the paper. 

“Our lab team has published many drug delivery papers in numerous scientific journals, but I was really interested in learning from these young editors about how to write for them and hear what they understood to be important about our research. CÚRAM has a really strong focus on making our research available and accessible to everyone and collaborating with our audience to create articles like this is a great way to do that. That’s why the collaboration with CURAM’s Education and Public Engagement team was key to the project’

Junior editors on the paper were 10 year old Maliyah, 15 year old Kaylah and 15 year old Dakyung.  (opens in a new window)The article explores Prof Brayden’s research that focuses on finding alternative ways of  delivering medicines like insulin to the body, so that they could be swallowed, for example, instead of being injected. Professor Brayden has also worked with animators to create a one minute overview of this aspect of his team’s research which is available (opens in a new window)here. 

The Frontiers for Young Minds website is collection of freely available peer-reviewed scientific articles that explain current, cutting edge research, drafted by leading scientists, but edited and shaped for younger audiences by children and teenagers. It has been named a  ‘Great Website for Kids’ by the (opens in a new window)American Library Association’ since 2014.  

CÚRAM’s public engagement programme supports SFI’s strategic goal of ‘Science for Everyone’, to connect the Irish public and patients with its research and to inspire future generations on the value and importance of medical device research for society. Co-authors on the paper were Dr Sarah Gundy and Claire Riordan from CÚRAM’s public engagement team and illustrations were developed by scientific illustrator Maciek Doczyk. Further information is available at (opens in a new window)www.curamdevices.ie