Spotlight on research: a swell gel to quell brain aneurysms

This week's Spotlight on Research is with Dr Owen Clarkin Lecturer at DCU School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and Principle Investigator of the Biomaterials Research Group at DCU

Your research looks to improve the treatment of cerebral aneurysms, what are they?

“They occur in blood vessels of the brain, usually behind the eyes. There is a bulge in the artery where there has been a weakening of the wall, and it pouches out, growing over time.

They are usually silent, they don’t have an effect on the person but if they are allowed to grow they can burst and this can result in pressure on the brain and brain damage.”

How are they treated at the moment?

“There are a couple of options: one is a craniotomy, so you open the skull and insert a metal clip at the base of the aneurysm. It works well but it’s an invasive process, which carries a lot of risks.

Another option is to feed a narrow tube called a catheter into an artery at the groin and thread it up to the brain, then use a microcatheter to deliver fine platinum coils into the aneurysm.

The idea is that the coils encourage clots that will keep blood out and prevent the aneurysm from expanding.

There can be some issues with this approach though – the coils don’t fully fill the aneurysm so you may get regrowth, or depending on the shape of the aneurysm the coils may fall out.”

What is your innovation?

“We have developed a biomaterial, a hydrogel derived from seaweed, which you can inject through the microcatheter directly into the aneurysm and which is designed to thicken and stick to the aneurysm to block it.

We use tiny microparticles to release ions when they are in the aneurysm and this leads the polymer to cross-link and thicken up once it is out of the microcatheter. What’s particularly good about this approach is that it fills up the aneurysm completely, regardless of its shape.”

You recently won the President’s Award for Innovation for the research - how is the work progressing?

“Thanks to the support of Enterprise Ireland we have been pre-clinically testing the biomaterial, which is called EnduraGel, and it has gone well.

So now we are looking at whether to license the technology to a large multinational company or to start up our own spin-out company to commercialise it.

What do you find rewarding about the research?

“I think it’s that you get to try out ideas and innovations in a way that might not be possible in industry, where they have products and pipelines so they tend to make incremental changes.

Instead as a researcher in a university you get to explore things that are at the edge of what is possible. I find that exciting and rewarding.”

You have a busy job – what do you do to unwind?

“Yes, as a full-time lecturer and researcher it is busy, but I try to get out sailing or hiking or rock climbing when I can.

I am from Wexford and I have been sailing since I was about 10 years old, it’s great, it really clears your head.

Similarly with rock climbing, you can’t think about much else when you are trying to cling on to rocks!”