5 AMBER Researchers Awarded under Frontiers for the Future

24 October 2024

Five AMBER Researchers have been awarded under the Frontiers for the Future Programme. Dr Shalini Singh, Assistant Professor Larisa Florea, Associate Professor Aisling Dunne and Associate Professor Fiona Freeman and Professor Michael Monaghan are five of the 40 projects funded under the Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland Frontiers for the Future Programme, the projects address key areas such as environmental sustainability, new EV battery technologies, breast cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, and currently untreatable childhood neurological disorders. Details of the projects can be found below:

Shalini Singh of University of Limerick was awarded for project:
‘Alkali Metal based Ternary Chalcogenides (ABZ) Nanocrystals (NCs) Design from Materials to Applications: Towards a Retrosynthetic Nanocrystal Synthesis Pathway’

Discovery of new compounds with new technological properties is important for all fields of chemistry. In the field of semiconductor nanocrystals, many earth-abundant and non-toxic compositions with existing properties as predicted theoretically still await to be synthesised. NANOABZ aims to conduct accelerated discovery of novel ABZ nanocrystals (A-alkali metal, B –transition metals/pnictogens, Z is chalcogens) by bottom-up colloidal synthesis approaches. By using a multi-faceted approach of studying reaction kinetics, surface chemistry and structure-property relationship by experimental and computational approaches, NANOABZ will be a route to the systematic discovery of hitherto missing, realizable functional materials.

Larisa Florea of Trinity College Dublin was awarded for project:
‘Biomimetic 4D Robotic Micro-tools’

This project will combine state-of-the-art 3D manufacturing techniques with new types of soft materials, to create micro-tools with flexible hinges and joints that can be triggered remotely to move and even deliver drugs on demand. These breakthroughs will be of significant benefit to the health and medicine sectors, where microrobotic tools have the potential to enable surgical tasks that are currently difficult or even impossible to perform (e.g. highly precise surgeries and biopsies, and localised drug delivery).

Aisling Dunne of Trinity College Dublin was awarded for prject:
‘Pre-clinical assessment of novel Heme Oxygenase-1 (HO-1) inducers.’

A number of studies are underway to identify new therapeutics that can be used either alone or in conjunction with existing therapies to treat inflammatory bowel disease. Recent studies have suggested that the administration of antioxidants with additional anti-inflammatory action may be of substantial benefit. We have been assessing specific parasite-derived molecules that exhibit both of these activities in our model systems. We now plan to carry out a detailed assessment in relevant cell types/tissue biopsies from individuals suffering from IBD in order to validate their potential as novel treatments, not only for IBD, but inflammatory disease in general.

Fiona Freeman of University College Dublin with co-applicant Scheryll Alken was awarded for project: ‘Conjugated STING-agonist nanoparticles as novel therapeutic add-on to enhance the therapeutic response of chemotherapy for the treatment of osteosarcoma.’ As a Frontiers for the Future partner, Children’s Health Foundation is this project with Research Ireland (bone cancer).

Osteosarcoma is an aggressive bone cancer that affects children, teenagers and young adults. The ability to hide from the immune system is a critical factor in the growth of osteosarcoma tumours within the body. This proposal aims to develop a new therapy that uses the body’s own immune system to attack the tumour. It outlines an entirely new concept to treat this debilitating disease. Using innovative engineering techniques, we will create specialized delivery vehicles that can transport the treatment to the immune cells as an add-on to chemotherapy to improve its ability to eradicate the cancer cells throughout the body.

Michael Monaghan of Trinity College Dublin was awarded for project:
BRILLFLIM – Optimised design of biomaterial implants to modulate the immunity-directed foreign body response by machine learning of single-cell macrophage stiffness and metabolic adaptations using noninvasive imaging modalities

Implantation of medical devices injures tissue and recruits immune cells which can cause severe scarring leading to reduction in implant success, speed of patient recovery and return to work, and the need for revision surgeries. It impacts both healthcare and economy. This proposal aims to design novel microscopy tools, that generate large amounts of data for computational analysis, to decipher the relationship between immune cell stiffness, its behaviour, and metabolism, to inform the design of biomaterial coatings (in terms of their thickness, stiffness and topography). Additionally, these computational methods will be used to predict an optimised material to avoid scarring.