MSc Biomedical Science

Congrats to new Biomedical Science MSc graduates!

2010-12-14T06:47:00.000-08:00

On Thursday November 25th, the second class of MSc students to complete the MSc in Biomedical Science (via distance learning), graduated. We missed Eimer O' Halloran, Mark Brassil and Tina Harte, who were unable to attend. The other graduates are pictured here. We want to wish all of you the best of luck for the future and hope that you will keep in touch!

Left to right, back row: Teresa Considine (Secondary School Teacher, Ennis), Patrick Power (Aerogen, Galway), Markus Fischer (UHG, Galway); Caroline Glynn (Channelle Medical, Loughrea).
Left to right, front row: Michelle Freeburne (Elan, Athlone), Una FitzGerald (course Director), Carolan Barrett, Adrian McNeill (Cook Ireland), Peter Daly (Allergan), Eddie McSherry (Stryker, Limerick).

The rise and rise of Aerogen

2010-07-10T00:34:00.000-07:00

If you're in need of reassurance that Irish innovation is alive and well, look no further than Aerogen, a small company based on the edge of Galway in the west of Ireland. Company founder, John Power explains in a 'case studies' video available for viewing on the Ernst and Young entrepreneur of the year website (http://www.eoy.tv/) that innovation is at the core of their novel aerosol-based drug delivery systems. He's clearly doing something right as Aerogen is a world leader in this technology, holding 40 international patents. At a time when members of the Irish Government are questioning continued investment in research, it's heartening also to learn that John Power spends 40% of Aerogen's annual operating expenditure on research and development. With a target population of patients on nebulisers in intensive care units, it's not hard to see how important innovation in this area of medical device techology is. For more information on Aerogen go to http://www.aerogen.com/.

Ireland needs more companies like Creganna!

2010-02-09T07:51:00.000-08:00

Browsing the daily broadsheets can be a depressing activity these days, with not much to suggest that this country will exit a recession any time soon. Some rays of hope, however, may be illuminating the way to a more vibrant and sustained economy. Creganna, with Helen Ryan (photo) recently at the helm, has acquired Avalon Medical Services Pte Ltd, to become Creganna TACTX Medical. Aimed primarily at the medical device sector, Creganna supports the provision of minimally invasive devices for a range of clinical applications including cardiology and neurology. The growth of Creganna, alongside giants of the medical device sector like Boston Scientific and Medtronic, also based in Galway, is heartening and demonstrates what can be achieved by a home-grown company. For more information of Creganna and its activities, visit their website at: http://www.creganna.com/index.aspx

3D structure of DNA

2009-10-22T02:55:00.000-07:00

The puzzle of how 2 metres of double-stranded DNA is packaged into the nucleus of cell of the order of tens of microns, is a step closer to being solved. Professor Job Dekker of The University of Massachussets Medical School led the study which showed that DNA is tightly packed into a ball. The following link will lead you to a video explaining (in lay terms) the structure of the human genome, as explained by Professor Julian Parkhill: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8294817.stm

If you'd like to learn more about the history of the discovery of DNA, its structure and how the DNA code is turned into protein, you should browse the DNAi website. This is an excellent educational resource run by Cold Spring Harbour Labs in the US. Further details can be found at http://www.dnai.org/.

Welcome to the second year!

2009-08-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

Friday August 28th is the first day of the second year for our distance learning students. We will welcome them back to the NCBES and kick off the year's lectures with a module on Molecular and Regenerative Medicine. Of the 6 modules to be completed by the students over the next two semesters, Mol and Regen Med has the most academic contributors (6 all together!). This is because of the wide range of topics covered, from Cancer to Immunology, Apoptosis, neurodegenerative disorders and regenerative medicine. The rest of the year will be taken up with completion of six out of 9 other specialist modules including Biomechanics, Tissue Engineering, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Stereology, Product Development, Validation and Regulation, Project Management, Experimental Design and Data analysis and Lasers. Staff at the NCBES are looking forward to helping the students through the year and guiding them through completion of their research project. More on these in future postings!

MSc course update May 8th 2009

2009-05-08T01:27:00.000-07:00

You can here some updates and tips for completion of practical write-ups and preparation of research project outlines on this video.

Students recover after intense practicals module at NCBES!

2009-04-30T02:25:00.000-07:00

Completing 4 8-hour practicals over the period of 5 - 8 days would make anyone tired! That's how the MSc students enrolled on our distance learning programme in Biomedical Science are feeling this week. It was intense, but by all accounts, educational and quite exciting at times. Heavily supported by technical staff (huge thanks to Enda O' Connell, Dave Connolly, Eadaoin Timmins, Brendan Harhen for all their efforts) and postgraduate demonstrators, 9 different kinds practical sessions were organised, with each student completing 4 each. Areas covered were tissue culture, mass spectrometry, anatomy, polymer characterisation, scanning electron microscopy, microbiology and cloning, real-time PCR, Lasers and applied therapeutics. Some practicals had to be run 3 times in order to allow the maximum number to do them and to accomodate student interests. Have a look at the image here to see the beautiful results obtained by Micheal Kelly! Micheal is an engineer working in Creganna here in Galway, but he took some time out to learn how to culture neuroblastoma cells and how to visualise actin and nuclei using fluorescently tagged phalloidin and DAPI. See how nicely he has picked up the ruffling at the lefthand edge of the cell and how intense the actin staining is. Actin is one of the proteins responsible for maintaining the shape of the cell and for helping it to move around.

Brain Awareness Week 2009

2009-04-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week members of the Galway Neuroscience Group reported their experience of holding a public event as part of global 'Brain Awareness Week'. Supported financially by the Dana Foundation, BAW is a multi-national effort aimed at making as many people as possible interested in their own brains. Activities include visits to schools by neuroscientists, or information dissemination by various neurological organisations like Neurology Alliance Ireland, Dystonia Ireland, the Dublin Brain Bank and MS Ireland. Galway neuroscientists chose 'The beauty of neuroscience' as their theme, displaying beautiful prints of cells and tissue gnerated during the course of their own research activities. Poster stands and a microscope with sample tissue and cells for viewing, were set up at the Eyre Square Shopping centre on March 19th and 20th. A separate table dedicated to interactive questionairs and brain colouring booklets for children was also a feature. For more information about the activities of the Galway Neuroscience Group, go to http://www.ncbes.ie/research/NeuroscienceOverview.htm

New treatment for stroke patients?

2009-01-19T01:40:00.000-08:00

Doctors in Glasgow are making controversial news with their proposals to use embryonic stem-cell-generated cultures to repair brain damage in stroke patients. Using a single aborted foetal donation obtained following strict adherence to guidelines, a company called 'Reneuron' has generated stem cell cultures which they believe have the potential to replace neurons lost following a stroke. Around 2 million cells will initially be implanted: the aim will be to test the safety of such a procedure and the trial will be carried out on 3 groups of 4 patients over 2 years. Dr. Keith Muir, a consultant at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow is leading the study, while Dr. John Sinden is the chief scientific advisor of 'Reneuron'. To see time-lapse footage of dividing stem cells go to the BBC weblink http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7834028.stm . You'll also find a short clip of Dr. Sinden's justification for this kind of work.

Podcast listening - a New Year's resolution that's easy to keep!

2008-12-28T03:29:00.000-08:00

No doubt techno-savvy readers among you will already be benefiting from the wealth of science expertise and news updates freely available through the medium of podcasts. Take a moment to browse some of the links provided under the 'Podcasts' section here. A favourite of mine is the 'Brain Science' podcast hosted by Ginger Campbell, MD. Dr. Campbell has been broadcasting her series for the last couple of years, with an impressive range of topics covered and a large number of top-notch researchers interviewed. The link below will take you to the Brain Science website, where you'll find further links to helpful episode notes and many other neuroscience-related topics.

http://brainsciencpodcast.wordpress.com/

Why not make podcast listening a New Year's resolution!

Congratulations MSc graduates!

2008-12-02T01:41:00.001-08:00

The sun shone in more ways than one in Galway last Friday the 28th of November, when the first graduates of our distance learning MSc programme were conferred with their degrees. In a packed conferring ceremony, President Browne handed out the degrees to both the full-time MSc graduates and those who undertook their studies part-time over two years, while somehow managing to hold down demanding jobs. Congratulations to distance learning students Dermot Hughes, Patricia Keary-McDermott, Sinead Mannion (who sadly was unable to attend on the day), Ciaran Driver, Catherine Dolphin, Kevin Kennelly, Deirdre Doherty and Mark Burke. We were delighted to welcome the students back to the NCBES for a reception to mark the occasion and thank BESTNET for funding the reception and for providing financial support in the form of a fee supplement, to Dermot Hughes and Kevin Kennelly, employees of Boston Scientific, a member of the BESTNET Skillsnet company network. Catherine Dolphin who worked for Pfizer, was also supported by the BESTNET fee scheme. The graduates in the photo, taken in from of the NCBES, are (from left): Mark Burke, Deirdre Doherty, Catherine Dolphin, Kevin Kennelly, Una FitzGerald (course coordinator), Dermot Hughes, Ciaran Driver, Patricia Keary-McDermott.

Breath easy with stem cells

2008-11-20T02:43:00.000-08:00

A mind-blowing report of a transplanted tissue-engineered trachea is making news headlines around the world. Claudia Castillo is a 30-year-old Colombian woman who is breathing easily because of a trachea transplant grown using her own stem cells. Consider how hard it must be to isolate stem cells from three different parts of Claudia's body (hips, lungs, nose) , keep these cells sterile and seed them onto a natural tracheal scaffold isolated from a dead donor. Because the stem cells were her own and because they coated the donated tracheal scaffold, the hybrid tissue (containing donor scaffold coated with 'self' stem cells) was not rejected. A real-time video explaining the background to this story can be found at the following link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5183686.ece

Nobel prize for discoverers of green fluorescent protein

2008-10-09T01:50:00.000-07:00

Little did we know that the second assignment for our students taking module BES514 'Molecular & Cellular Biology' would be so topical! By now you have probably heard that the Nobel prize for Chemistry has gone this year to three scientists who discovered the green fluorescent protein (GFP) in jellyfish. Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien shared the prize and it's amazing to think that as far back as 1961, Shimomura had to process 10,000 jellyfish in order to isolate GFP. During the second assignment for module BES514, not are students learning about how proteins are tagged with GFP, by using clever mammalian expression systems like the Clontech In-fusion system, but they are now hearing of the fantastic and widespread use of this fluorescent technology to label varied populations of live cells. Whoever said science wasn't art should take a look at this image and more, which can be seen at the following link to an Associated Press article. See how scientists at Harvard University have produced stunning images of mouse brain cells using a range of fluorescent proteins.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5glgGz7t56fjsHAaw6bKefcmEM5GwD93MK27O0

If you would like to understand the technology behind the production of this and more fluorescent tissue, read Livet et al, 2008 the Nature paper which explains all (Nature (2007), 450:56-63).

NCBES TV !

2008-09-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

The first in our series of short research highlight programmes is now available online at our own internet TV channel: http://ncbes.blip.tv

Thanks to Honorata Kraskiewicz for being the brave first volunteer and to Lindsay Cody for the filming and editing.

August 30th - a return to studying!

2008-08-08T02:08:00.000-07:00

On August 30th we will welcome a new class of MSc and postgraduate certificate students to the NCBES. The students are currently working with wide range of employers including Allergan, the University of Limerick, Boston Scientific, Channelle Medical, Trinity Biotech, Pfizer, Aerogen, Isotron, UCHG, REMEDI, NUIG, Olympus, Creganna, Stryker Orthopaedics, Covidian, Abbott Diagnostics, second level education sector, BMW Group, Unitech, Charles River, De Puy, Cook Ireland, Ircona Technologies, Medtronic. In a change from our first group of students, this class has a greater geographical spread, with the majority being based outside the Galway area.

During the first year of the programme, modules taken will include Molecular and Cellular Biology, Gross Anatomy, Histology, Innovation and Technology Transfer, Materials Science and Biomaterials as well as a practical techniques module. We are looking forward to introducing these students to the exciting research taking place here in the NCBES and affiliated departments and institutes. Over the coming months we hope to see student-driven content appearing here, so watch this space!!

Please note, there are still a couple of places left on the programme. Please contact the course coordinator if you wish to apply.

MIT Prof Robert Langer wins €800,000 Millenium Technology Prize

2008-06-19T05:28:00.000-07:00

Go to the BBC news link below for interesting story about Professor Robert Langer, a pioneer in the biomaterials and drug delivery field, whose efforts have been recognised by the awarding of the prestigious Millenium Technology award. Prof Langer's particular contribution centred around the development of 3-dimensional 'scaffolds' for use in tissue engineering and / or drug delivery.

Weblink: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7448215.stm

Deadline for application to MSc / PG Cert programme extended to Friday July 11th

2008-06-06T05:50:00.000-07:00

There is still room for some more applications to our MSc (level 9) and Postgraduate Certificate (level 8) programmes. We have therefore decided to extend the deadline for applications to Friday July 11th. Applications submitted prior to May 30th have been processed and an offer of places has been made (to 27 students in total). Sumbissions received between May 30th and July 11th will be processed after July 11th.

To submit your application, go to www.pac.ie and follow links to NUIG, the College of Science. GYS19 is the code for the MSc and GYS20 is the code for the postgraduate certificate.

The fees for the coming academic year are €5,905 and applicants who work in companies which are members of the Skillsnet Bestnet network are entitled to a fee supplement of around €1,000.

Conact the course coordinator by mailing una.fitzgerald@nuigalway.ie if you have any queries regarding the course.

NUI Galway Celebrates 20 years of Biodiagnostics R&D

2008-05-13T12:30:00.001-07:00

From NUIG Press Office: NUI Galway will celebrate 20 years of success in biodiagnostics research and development on Saturday, 17 May, with a symposium reflecting on the University’s leadership in supporting and collaborating with Ireland’s BioIndustry.

The University is a world leader in molecular diagnostics for infectious diseases. Molecular diagnostic technologies have been licensed to companies who are market leaders in this area. Recently, NUI Galway launched a four year R&D partnership with Beckman Coulter Inc. to develop molecular diagnostic products for the clinical sector.

Special guests at the symposium will include Professor Frank Gannon, Science Foundation Ireland; Dr. Jim Walsh, Stokes Bio; Dr. Patrick Cunningham, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government; and Dr. Bruce Wallace, Beckman Coulter Inc. The meeting will be chaired by Feargal Ó Móráin from Enterprise Ireland who will be addressing issues including the importance of industry and academic collaborative interaction and the role NUI Galway has played in the development of the Irish BioIndustry sector.

The event takes place on Saturday at the Salthill Hotel, Galway from 2-5pm, for further information contact Dr. Marian Kane (Tel. 091-492071 or e-mail marian.kane@nuigalway.ie). Pictured above are Dr. Marian Kane of the National Diagnostic Centre and Prof. Terry Smith of the NCBES.

Curiouser and curiouser....

2008-05-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

Browsing the spring issue of 'Discover' magazine, I came across a highly readable and interesting article (by Brad Lemley) about Juan Enriquez, a scientist whose mission appears to be to spread the news about the prime importance of understanding 'life' and 'the code'. According to Enriquez, the future wealth of nations depends on how their peoples understand and make use of the life code. A follow-up search of the web inevitably brought me to another 'TED' talk, this time delivered by Enriquez. Take the time to sit through this thought-provoking 22-minute webcast.

Embedded in the 'Discover' article also, are a couple of 'bug-generated' images. Amazingly, these were generated using light-sensitive e. coli! Further details can be found at http://www.utexas.edu/opa/media/051123photos.php. Here's an example image:

Extension of deadline for application to MSc/PG Cert programmes to end of May 2008

2008-04-19T09:07:00.001-07:00

Due to some difficulties being experienced by some candidates while trying to access the online application system (PAC) yesterday, the deadline is being extended to the 30th of May 2008. Even though we have already recieved a large number of appications (24) we are prepared to consider some more over the next month or so. Amendments will be made to the deadline information on PAC, as soon as possible.

The future of the Irish Biosciences Sector in Ireland

2008-04-16T04:56:00.000-07:00

Marina Murphy's article of the status and future of the Bioscience sector in Ireland makes for interesting reading. In essence, the article suggests that the Bio-pharma industries in Ireland have a strong future, particularly with recent large-scale investments by the likes of Wyeth.
Have a look at the article through the following link:

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/innovation/2008/0414/1207899433810.html

Applications for new course intake - Deadline

2008-04-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

This blogsite is mainly for those currently taking, or considering enrolling in, the part-time, distance-learning MSc in Biomedical Science offered by the National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science at NUI Galway. This course features an exciting mix of subjects and is ideally suited to those currently working in industry or in a related academic/educational post. It has a flexible structure whereby it is possible to take a PgCert, a PgDip or (after successful completion of a relevant project) the MSc.

In this blog, my aim is to highlight some interesting resources, news items and developments in the broad area of Biomedical Science that I think might be of interest to students on the course, or indeed to a wider public (If you have any items you'd like to suggest for inclusion, just drop me an email). Please feel free to subscribe to this blog or just come back regularly to catch the latest news.

If you are interested in joining the course (either PgCert or MSc) please note that applications for the next course (beginning in late August/early September) are due in by Friday April 18th using the online application system. You can find full details in the links at the side and at the official course website.

Regenerating our bodies - Alan Russell

2008-04-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

A Professor of Surgery and of Chemical Engineering, Alan Russell introduces some of the concepts of regenerative medicine in this talk from TED in 2006.

Robert Fischell - Biomedical Inventor

2008-03-30T10:13:00.001-07:00

Robert Fischell has invented special features of the implantable cardiac defibrillator (that has saved more than 60,000 lives), followed by the implantable insulin pump, coronary stents used to open clogged arteries, and two extraordinary feedback systems that provide early warning of epileptic seizures and heart attacks. Though he is officially retired, he continues to create new devices to treat a wide range of ailments, from heart attacks to chronic migraines.

My Stroke of Insight - Jill Bolte Taylor

2008-03-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

From TED Talks: Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.