Two University of Galway professors have secured prestigious grants worth €150,000 each.
The Proof of Concept grants from the European Research Council are going to Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Ted Vaughan, and Professor of Medical Electronics, Martin O'Halloran.
Prof. Vaughan is Director of the Institute for Health Discovery and Innovation and a Principal Investigator at CÚRAM, and is working on advancing 3D printing software
Professor Ted Vaughan, Director of the Institute for Health Discovery and Innovation and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at University of Galway. Credit - Martina Regan.
His project will advance an innovative software platform that enables engineers to design lighter, stronger, and more efficient components optimised for 3D printing - additive manufacturing - across biomedical, automotive and aerospace applications.
The new technology offers unprecedented freedom to create complex and lightweight parts as many products are still designed using approaches developed for traditional manufacturing, limiting performance and increasing material waste.
The research team will address this gap by developing a new, easy-to-use design approach that brings design and production considerations together in one simple process, helping engineers move quickly from an idea to a part that is ready to print and use in the real world.
While Prof. O'Halloran - who is Co-Director at CÚRAM Research and Executive Director of the BioInnovate Programme - is now the most successful Ireland ERC recipient.
Professor Martin O’ Halloran, Principal Investigator in the College of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences and Executive Director of the BioInnovate Programme at University of Galway.
His project is Uro-Lieve, a minimally invasive, biodegradable capsaicin hydrogel designed to selectively silence pain fibres as a therapy for relief from symptoms of painful bladder syndrome, known as interstitial cystitis. The new approach avoids the severe burning of current treatments.
The research is led by Professor Martin O’ Halloran, Principal Investigator in the College of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences and Executive Director of the BioInnovate Programme at University of Galway.
The projects are the only two from Ireland to have been recognised with Proof of Concepts awards in this ERC round.
