In Tullamore, Co Offaly, next Thursday, a Nobel prize-winner will provide an update on the medical research being conducted to find better forms of insulin to replace daily injections for diabetics.
Dr Herbert Hauptman, who is recognised as the world's foremost expert on crystallography, was awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry in 1985, some 30 years after his pioneering work on developing a mathematical method to determine molecular structures of crystallised materials.
He is president of the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute. Based in Buffalo, New York state, it has developed links with Tullamore.
The theme of the public lecture is "unexpected long-range consequences of basic scientific research for the practice of medicine". This will deal with the work being carried out at the institute by Dr Hauptman, with a team of 45 scientists, seeking to define the direct methods technique, resulting in the design of many new drugs to combat deadly diseases.
The Hauptman-Woodward Institute has already conducted research into a number of diseases affecting daily life, including breast cancer, diabetes and polycystic kidney disease.
The institute's collaboration with the Centre for Macromolecular Crystallography at NASA Commercial Space Centre has allowed its scientists access to the largest space-grown insulin crystals studied.
Continued investigations will allow better and slower acting forms of insulin to be developed and possibly an oral insulin-like drug to replace daily injections.
The Hauptman-Woodward Institute has also devoted more than 35 years to breast cancer research and a range of other killer diseases.
Dr Hauptman will deliver a second lecture in the Athlone Institute of Technology on October 15th. It is entitled "The Essential Role which Mathematics plays in the Natural Sciences".
The lectures will be hosted by the Midland Health Board in association with the Atlantic Corridor Steering Group, which has been forming links between Buffalo and the midlands.
These involve a partnership of development agencies and higher education institutes on both sides of the Atlantic.