Collaborating with University of California through Career Development Fellowship

Shane Browne, a final year PhD student at the Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials (NFB) at NUI Galway, has been awarded an Irish Research Council International Career Development Fellowship under the ELEVATE scheme. The award will cover his postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, USA to collaborate with Professor Kevin Healy for two years. Photo by NUI Galway, NO REPRO FEE.
Jul 07 2014 Posted: 11:46 IST

Shane Browne, a final year PhD student at the Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials (NFB) at NUI Galway, has been awarded an Irish Research Council International Career Development Fellowship under the ELEVATE scheme. The award will cover his postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, USA to collaborate with Professor Kevin Healy for two years.

The aim of this initiative, co-funded by Marie Curie Actions, is to allow Irish-based experienced researchers who have gained most of their research experience in Ireland to carry out research at an International Host Organisation. The scheme requires researchers to spend a mandatory one year return phase at a returning Host Organisation of their choice in Ireland. Shane will spend a third year at the NFB at NUI Galway to complete his fellowship.

The project involves novel methods of treating limb ischemia which occurs when the blood supply is lost to a limb. Delayed treatment of the condition leads to morbidity, amputation and even death. Shane’s research will involve promoting new blood vessel growth to the limb using biomaterials in Professor Healy’s Laboratory.

Professor Healy’s work focuses on the interface between biology and materials science to develop engineered systems to explore both fundamental biological phenomena and new applications in translational medicine. The research group at Berkeley is highly interdisciplinary, incorporating researchers from the fields of bioengineering, materials engineering, medicine, and molecular biology.

Currently, Shane is completing his PhD which is funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), under the supervision of Professor Abhay Pandit studying treatment of myocardial infarction (MI). He has received multiple rewards for his postgraduate research including a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) fellowship and European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) travel fellowship.

His current project involves using a collagen biomaterial system, which has been developed at the NFB, for the delivery of anti-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic gene therapy to damaged heart tissue. The aim is to improve functional recovery of the heart muscle by modulating the inflammatory response following MI, and by subsequently promoting the formation of new blood vessels.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity in the developed world, and yet there is currently no treatment available to patients to promote the regeneration of infarcted myocardium. One of the NFB’s goals is to develop biomaterial-based cardiac gene therapy to reduce scarring and promote regeneration of the myocardium following MI. This approach could ultimately benefit patients at risk of heart failure and lead to reduced morbidity and improved heart function following MI.

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