Conway Fellows recognised at the 2025 NovaUCD Innovation awards

Three Conway Fellows were recognised for their excellence in innovation at the 2025 NovaUCD Innovation awards on 10 April 2025.

(opens in a new window)Prof. Wenxin Wang was awarded the 2025 NovaUCD Innovation Award; Prof. Kevin O’Connor received the 2025 NovaUCD Innovation Champion of the Year Award and LaNua Medical (co-founder, Dr Eoin O'Cearbhaill) won the 2025 NovaUCD Spin-out of the Year Award.

The 2025 NovaUCD Innovation Award, which recognises excellence in innovation or of successes achieved in the commercialisation of UCD research, or other intellectual activity, over a number of years, was awarded to Professor Wenxin Wang.

Professor Wang is a leading skin and wound healing research expert, and a Research Ireland Principal Investigator at the UCD Charles Institute of Dermatology, UCD School of Medicine. His academic and research expertise is focused on areas of biomaterials, stem cell and gene therapy for the treatments of skin wounds, cartilage/bone regeneration, including dental tissue regeneration.

Professor Wang’s intellectual property portfolio includes 12 invention disclosures to NovaUCD, being a named inventor on 30+ patents during his career, and launching and commercialising multiple developed technologies onto the market.

He is also a serial entrepreneur and the founder of three start-up companies, including Vornia, which was acquired by Ashland in 2018, Bláfar, and Branca Bunús a UCD spin-out biotech company which he founded in 2019. Branca Bunús is focused on developing and commercialising polymer-based gene therapies for patients suffering from genetic disorders.

He has also developed strong links with industry partners, which includes collaborating with Amryt Pharma, Curran Scientific Ltd and DEBRA Ireland on an €8+ million DTIF funded project focused on the development of a disruptive gene therapy platform to replace viruses in the treatment of genetic conditions, such EB (Epidermolysis Bullosa).

On receiving the 2025 NovaUCD Innovation Award, Professor Wenxin Wang, said, “I am delighted to receive this Award from NovaUCD as my dream and passion is always within innovation and scientific discovery, using my talents with an ultimate goal of translating my scientific discovery into real-world applications to benefit humankind. In the years ahead I will keep pursuing this life mission of mine.”

Click hereto find out more about the 2025 NovaUCD Innovation Award.

The recipient of the 2025 NovaUCD Innovation Champion of the Year Award is Professor (opens in a new window)Kevin O’Connor, Director of BiOrbic, the Research Ireland Centre for Bioeconomy, a Principal Investigator at the UCD Earth Institute and a Full Professor in the UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science.

Through his research activities Professor O’Connor has, over many years, been championing the development of a sustainable global economy. His research expertise includes a focus on circular economy, circular bioeconomy, and biotechnology including, integrated biorefining, biobased chemicals, microbial biotechnology, biodegradable polymers, biocatalysis and protein engineering.

He is also a champion in promoting an innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem within his School and College by actively involving members of his research and postdoc teams in his invention disclosures, patent applications, many of which have been subsequently licensed to industry, and through his commercialisation funded projects.

In addition, he has been championing innovation through his leadership roles in shaping Ireland’s bioeconomy research landscape as Director of BioOrbic, as Principal Investigator with Farm Zero C, a collaboration between Carbery and BiOrbic’s research partners to create a climate-neutral nature positive, economically viable dairy farm, and as the lead in the development of pilot scale facilities at the Bioeconomy campus in Lisheen, Co. Tipperary.

In addition, he has disclosed 16 inventions to NovaUCD, 7 patents have been filed, 7 licences concluded with industry, and he has co-founded two UCD spin-out companies, Bioplastech and Nova Mentis.

Click hereto find out more about the 2025 NovaUCD Innovation Champion of the Year Award.

(opens in a new window)LaNua Medical has been named recipient of the 2025 NovaUCD Spin-out of the Year Award.

LaNua Medical is developing a groundbreaking medical device designed to make minimally invasive, x-ray guided, endovascular treatment of numerous conditions including internal bleeding, vascular malformations and many benign and malignant tumours safe and effective.

This should make procedures quicker and more straightforward for operators, providing a cost-effective solution for healthcare systems and lead to consistent outcomes for patients.

The company was co-founded in 2024 by Dr Cormac Farrelly, UCD School of Medicine, (opens in a new window)Dr Eoin O'Cearbhaill and Sajjad Amiri, UCD School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering along with Tom Fitzmaurice, formerly a Vice-President at Medtronic, following the completion of an Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Fund research project at the University.

During 2024 LaNua Medical closed a €6 million seed funding round, co-led by Elkstone and Atlantic Bridge, with participation from Enterprise Ireland and Furthr VC, to accelerate product development, gain entry into the US market and hire staff in roles across R&D and Quality. The company also established offices at NovaUCD and in Galway.

Click hereto find out more about the 2025 NovaUCD Spin-out of the Year Award.

Prepared with materials from Micéal Whelan