PResident's RePORt 2009/2010 - University College Cork

Foreword
UCC at a Glance
Academic Developments
Teaching and Learning
Research
College Reports:
Arts, Celtic
Studies and Social
Sciences
Business and Law
Medicine and Health
Science, Engineering and
Food Science
Events
Student Experience
Sports and Recreation
Buildings and Estates
Cork University Press
Finance
Governing Body
IRIS Appendix
40
• The Department of Epidemiology and Public Health have
secured funding worth €300,000 from the Crumlin Children’s
Research Centre for a study on ‘Childhood Obesity in Ireland:
recent trends and determinants at the individual and ecological
level’. The project will commence in April 2011.
• The Department of Epidemiology and Public Health have also
secured funding worth €250,000 from Safefood for research on
‘The Cost of Overweight and Obesity on the Island of Ireland’.
This project will commence in January 2011.
• Dr John Cryan, Professor Ted Dinan and their colleagues have
unravelled a novel mechanism underlying how early-life stress
can alter the levels of a specific protein involved in controlling
the amount of chemical glutamate which transmits nerve
impulses in the spinal cord. If there is too much glutamate
pain signals can occur. Decreased levels of the glutamate
transporter, which normally mops up excess glutamate,
results in an increased level of glutamate which contributes
to the increased experience of abdominal pain seen in IBS
patients. The researchers then used the drug riluzole, which
is used clinically in the treatment of motor neuron disease, to
activate this protein and reverse these effects. The research
was supported by Science Foundation Ireland through a
Centre for Science Engineering and Technology (CSET) grant
to the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (APC).
• Following a decision to relocate the HRB Clinical Research
Facility to the Mercy University Hospital, a satellite research unit
for Paediatrics has been developed on the CUH campus which
is the primary academic centre for paediatrics in Cork. The
HRB Discovery Centre welcomed its first research volunteer in
December 2010. The centre will facilitate clinical assessment,
data collection and evaluation of babies and children recruited
to paediatric studies. The most active of these at present are the
BASELINE birth cohort study led by Dr Deirdre Murray, which
also includes assessment of skin barrier function’s association
with food allergy led by Professor Jonathan Hourihane. The
centre will also facilitate an FP7 research study on neonatal
hypotension led by Dr Gene Dempsey due to commence in
2011. Click here for more information. Professor Hourihane
succeeds Professor David Kerins as UCC’s representative on
the board of Molecular Medicine Ireland.
• Dr Mark Tangney and his team at the Cork Cancer Research
Centre have shown that a bacteria commonly found in probiotic
yoghurts has been shown to be a safe and effective way to
deliver gene therapies to treat cancer. The research, which has
been funded by the HRB, was published in Nature (April 2010).
• Dr Patrick Harrison and Ciaran Lee (Physiology), in
collaboration with Dr Martina Scallan (Microbiology), received
a grant of $146,000 from Cystinosis Research Foundation,
California for ‘Cystinosis gene repair’ whilst €298,000 of a
multi-centre €9.6m FP7 programme Multi-FUN, was awarded
to Dr Farouk Markos (Physiology) and €78,000 from IRCSET to
study ‘Angiotensin peptides and kidney function’ was awarded
to Julie O’Neill to work with Professor Edward Johns and Dr
Vincent Healy, (all Physiology).
• Professor Finbarr Allen was awarded €235,482 from the HRB
for ‘Evaluation of minimally invasive oral healthcare for elderly
Irish adults’.
• Professor Helen Whelton was awarded €610,971 from the Oral
Healthcare Industry for ‘Lough Bane Clinical Study to assess
two dentifrices for the treatment of dentinal hypersensitivity’.
• Professor Helen Whelton was awarded €306,947 from the Oral
Healthcare Industry for ‘Lough Erne Clinical Study to assess
two dentifrices for the treatment of dentinal hypersensitivity’.
• Professor Helen Whelton was awarded €154,689 from the
HRB for ‘Tackling oral health inequalities in pre-schoolers – an
integrated approach’.
• A collaborative link with Khartoum University Dental School,
Sudan, and the Cork Dental School and Hospital yielded its
first co-supervised PhD graduate, Dr Nada Sanhouri, in June
2010. Dr Sanhouri was the first student to graduate from UCC
having been cosupervised by a member of staff, Dr Hassan
Ziada, at Cork Dental School.