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Prof Silvia Giordani secures Research Ireland Research Alliance Award

Research news - Silvia Giordani
Prof Giordani will receive just over €75000 in funding for a project examining the feasibility of laser assisted cancer treatment. The Research Alliance Award provides seed funding to researchers in Ireland and Wales to develop joint proposals for Horizon Europe and other European funding programmes over the duration of four to 12 months.

The new project, a collaboration between DCU and Bangor University is one of eight announced by Minister James Lawless and Wales’ Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning, Rebecca Evans.

Prof Giordani and collaborators have conducted extensive research into using onion-like carbon nano structures coated with medication to treat drug-resistant cancer cells. A previous study showed the method would provide more precise way to deliver medicines to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells, a cancer cell type known for its aggression and its resistance to treatments. The Research Alliance Award will allow the Giordani group to investigate the feasibility of using these systems also in laser assisted cancer therapy in collaboration with Prof Zengbo Wang.

Launched in December 2024 by the Wales Innovation Network (WIN) and Research Ireland, the Research Alliance Award is a collaborative funding programme designed to strengthen Ireland-Wales research ties and develop competitive grants for Horizon Europe, the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation.

The funded projects will seek to strengthen academic-industry collaboration between Ireland and Wales, support competitive Horizon Europe proposals, and facilitate researcher mobility, workshops, and joint research activities.