DCU LED INSTITUTE AIMS AT WORLD BREAKTHROUGH IN CANCER, HEART DISEASE DETECTION
- 11 December 2006

The DCU led national drive for a world breakthrough in biomedical diagnostics – with €22.5m in funding from Science Foundation Ireland and six industrial partners – has ramped up the team of international ranking researchers to more than 60.

The effort is aimed at producing home-use diagnostic devices that will give “early warnings” of life threatening illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today launched the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute at DCU that will be the base for the research team, which includes leading scientists from the Royal College of Surgeons, the National University of Ireland, Galway, University College Cork and the six industrial partners, Åmic, Analog Devices, Becton Dickinson, Enfer Scientific, Hospira, and Inverness Medical Innovations/Unipath.

The Taoiseach said :” The establishment of the BDI here at DCU is a hugely exciting development. This has the potential to make a major contribution to the growth of our economy in the area of competitiveness and jobs.”

The global medical diagnostics industry is now worth more than €20bn and the medical device and diagnostics sector is a significant growth area in the Irish economy with over 130 companies involved.

“ This research aims to deliver the science and technology that will drive a revolution in health management,” said the Taoiseach. “The BDI is focusing on developing accurate and reliable devices suitable for self test, home use, that will enable people to take control over the management of their own health.

“ These devices will enable detection of live threatening events long before a critical stage is reached, and help chronic diseases to be controlled more effectively. This will reduce hospital stays and save lives, “ said Mr Ahern. Research is being carried out to exploit “markers” in blood, breath and saliva that will give these early warnings in illnesses like cancer, heart disease and diabetes, with “exquisite accuracy” according to Professor Brian MacCraith, Director of the Institute.

The Biomedical Diagnostics Institute is a unique industrial-clinical-academic research collaboration focused on the development of these next generation biomedical diagnostic devices for use in the home or at the Point-of-Care.

ENDS