Trinity College's new bioengineering research centre is seeking cures for arthritis and osteoporosis, writes Mireia Pomar.
In Ireland at least 15 per cent of the population has long-term health problems due to arthritis and related conditions, according to the Arthritis Foundation of Ireland. Osteoporosis is another major health issue, with one in four women, and one in 12 men expected to suffer from the bone disease by the time they are 70 years old, according to Irish Osteoporosis Society.
Finding a cure for these diseases is the goal of the new Trinity College Centre for Bioengineering. The new €5million research centre will look at these diseases, studying both the biological and the bio-mechanical aspects.
"We have three researches done," says the director of the new centre, Prof Patrick Prendergast. "The first is in mechano-biology which specifically looks at how mechanical forces affect the differentiation of stem cells.
"The second is in a project that we call Bond for Life, which is looking at osteoporosis." This involves studying how drugs might help prevent bone density losses.
"The third research is on pre-clinical testing of implants, which is looking at the devices before they are implanted into human beings."
The Centre for Bioengineering is particularly focused on research into arthritic diseases. "We have 12 investigators here, that would be academic staff. We have about six post-doc, and we have about 25 PhD students including everybody," says Prendergast.
"The research on mechano-biology will be used for tissue engineering or muscle skeletal tissue," says Prendergast. "For example when you get degeneration of cartilage, such as you get with arthritis, we can grow tissue outside the body and put it in to replace defects inside the body."
The Bond for Life project is primarily in the area of osteoporosis. Not all drugs are equally efficient, he says. "Women get osteoporosis particularly when they get to the post-menopausal period, but also quite a large proportion of men get osteoporosis as well, it is not just a woman's disease. In the centre we are looking at how you can prevent osteoporosis."
Bond for Life isn't just about osteoporosis, however. "There is another disease where the bond underneath the cartilage begins to stiffen," he says. "When the bond underneath the cartilage gets stiffer, the cartilage then is more highly stressed because it is sitting at the top of a stiffer bond, and there is the start of the process of degeneration of the cartilage. Many musculature diseases begin with problems with the bond tissue."
The centre was officially opened earlier this month by the Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin. Her department funded the centre via the Higher Education Authority's Program for Research in Third Level Institutions Cycle 3. The Centre also receives €1 million a year in research contract funding coming from a variety of sources.
The opening of the Centre for Bioengineering is particularly important from a strategic perspective, according to the college. Ireland has the highest concentration of medical device companies in Europe, and this sector continuously demands expertise.
Trinity also announced a degree program in Manufacturing Engineering and Management Science (MEMS).
"It is an undergraduate degree program which combines 80 per cent engineering and 20 per cent business," said the head of the department of mechanical and manufacturing engineering, Prof John Fitzpatrick. "It's for students who are interested in the business aspect of engineering."
The MEMS degree program, which has also been funded by the Department of Education and Science, delivers a core curriculum of engineering and management subjects through small group teaching and interdisciplinary team based projects.
"Mechanical engineering in Trinity has been pursuing an ambitious development plan, driven by a determination to consolidate and develop our international reputation for research, to maintain and strengthen our degree programs at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and to underpin the needs of Irish industry," states Fitzpatrick.
Mireia Pomar is on placement in The Irish Times from Dublin City University's school of communications