Two scientists at Galway third-level institutions have received Research Ireland funding for a project to explore the medical benefits of sustainable marine bioresources.
The project is led by Dr Nicolas Touzet of Atlantic Technological University and Prof Olivier Thomas of the University of Galway.
Research Ireland says that Touzet, Thomas and their teams will focus on using aquatic microscopic plant-like organisms to conduct frontier research on new marine natural compounds that could contribute to future health and wellbeing solutions.
“This work will support the development of sustainable, marine-derived natural ingredients for applications across cosmetics, health and medicine,”it says.
The project title is “Valorising sustainable marine bioresources: exploration of the chemical diversity of Irish microalgae with antimicrobial, anticancer and antineurodegenerative properties [CHIMERA]”.
It is one of 22 “high-risk, high-reward” research project approved through the Research Ireland Frontiers for the Future Programme.
Details of the €20million programme were announced by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless.
Lawless described the 22 projects as “ ambitious in both scope and scale, spanning areas from pioneering cancer therapies to advancing a more sustainable and circular economy, and much more besides”.
“The breadth of research being funded reflects the exceptional depth and diversity of talent across our research and innovation ecosystem. I congratulate all the awardees and wish them every success as they push the boundaries of knowledge and deliver meaningful innovation,”he said.
Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, CEO of Research Ireland, said that “curiosity-driven research funding is an essential part of a healthy, purposeful and forward-looking research ecosystem”.
“Through the Frontiers for the Future Programme, Research Ireland supports researchers to take intellectual risks, and to pursue ideas that might not yet have a clear pathway, but could fundamentally reshape our understanding of the world around us,”he said.
“ Supports like these are central to sustaining a vibrant and internationally competitive research environment, which is a core element of our recently launched strategy,”he added.
Frontiers for the Future is described as a legacy programme inherited from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), which has played “an important role in supporting ambitious, curiosity-driven scientific research with the potential to deliver transformative societal and economic impact”.
“As a new agency, Research Ireland is reimagining and redeveloping the legacy programmes inherited from both SFI and the Irish Research Council (IRC) to reflect its broadened remit and the full diversity of disciplines now supported, as set out in our recently published Programme Plan,” it says.
Research initiatives funded under the Frontiers for the Future programme enable independent investigators to pursue bold ideas and innovative research over a four- to five-year period, it says.
