Posted 22 March 2012
'Celtic alliance' to target advances in healthcare
The European Regional Development Fund under the Ireland Wales Cross Border programme has announced funding for a new 'Celtic alliance' to lead the way in developing advances in healthcare.
The €1 million will help companies on either side of the Irish Sea stay at the forefront of innovation and growth in what is a fast developing and hugely influential healthcare sector.
Under the alliance, , the lead partner, will pool resources and expertise with three Dublin-based institutions – , (CRANN), and Dublin City University's Biomedical Diagnostics Institute and Nanobiophotonics and Imaging Centre.
"Nanohealth has the potential to deliver major advances in healthcare, and in doing so drive innovation and deliver sustainable economic and social development," said Deputy Minister for European Programmes, Alun Davies.
"I welcome this EU-funded initiative which will help forge a strong alliance between academia, healthcare providers and business to deliver healthcare solutions."
Through CAN it is expected that new and faster ways of screening for diseases using nanotechnologies will be developed. These will provide advances in patient care and safety and enhance the speed at which novel developments can be translated for patient benefit. For example, Nano-devices and Nano-biosensors allow the detection and measurement of biomarkers in fluid or tissue samples at a level of sensitivity far beyond current methods, aiding the early detection and treatment of a wide range of diseases including cancer and heart disease.
"UCD already leads the European Infrastructure for Nanosafety and Bionanoscience (composed of the key Centres from all over Europe), and therefore has considerable understanding of how new nanomedicines and nanodiagnostics can be shepherded through the regulatory system," said Professor Kenneth Dawson, University College Dublin.
"Now, with the link to CAN we have the capacity to develop diagnostic devices that can pick up early signals of disease and support their commercialisation. This project is part of an overall strategy in 小鸟体育's new Nanomedicine Centre initiative to draw together all of the assets necessary to make 小鸟体育, combined with our partners in TCD and DCU, a European force in this arena."
CAN comes at an important time when regulations around nanomaterials in products are being formed, and CAN's research focus maps well to strategic research areas for Ireland as identified in Forfas' Report of the Research Prioritisation Steering Group, published on 01 March 2012, which identified Medical Devices, Diagnostics and Therapeutics as three of its fourteen priority research and investment areas.
The Forfas report identified opportunities for commercialisation in emerging growth areas such as personalised medicine/companion diagnostics, nutrition related diagnostics, veterinary diagnostics and point-of-care devices.
CAN will enable small to medium sized companies interested in developing nanohealth technology to access world leading resources and link-up with potential investors.
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