Professor Abhay Pandit, Director of the Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials (NFB) at NUI Galway, has recently returned from Taiwan, where he delivered a plenary lecture at the 2011 International Symposium on Recent Advances in Pluripotent Stem Cells. The lecture took place at Taipei Medical University, and coincided with the 7^thAnnual Meeting of the Taiwan Society for Stem Cell Research. 

Professor Pandit’s wealth of experience and international reputation in functionalised biomaterials, particularly in delivery of stem cells, led to the invitation from the Taiwan Society for Stem Cell Research. Speaking at the opening session of the symposium, Professor Pandit’s lecture, entitled ‘A functionalised scaffold for modulation of inflammation to permit stem cell survival in myocardial infarction’ drew on his research results achieved at the NFB, NUI Galway. 

The NFB is an SFI-funded Strategic Research Cluster, focused on developing the next generation of biomaterials while developing collaborations with industrial partners at a regional, national and international level. These collaborations have now placed NFB research in a global context.  Speaking about the invitation, Professor Pandit said “I was very pleased to receive the invitation to give a plenary lecture in Taiwan. Asia is the major emerging market in the biomedical sector, so all opportunities to showcase Irish research there should be welcomed.”

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