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MSc in Molecular Cell Biology with Bioinnovation student wins prestigious IBYE award
UCC MSc in Molecular Cell Biology student, Blaine Doyle, won the top prize of €20,000 investment for his company GlowDX under the ‘Best New Idea’ category at the finals of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition. Additionally he won €10,000 investment at his Local Enterprise Office competition on the way to the finals.
Glow DX is setting out to develop a more effective diagnostic for neglected tropical diseases, like Dengue fever, that will be user friendly and low cost.
Blaine co-founded GlowDX with Yensi Flores Bueso, both students in the MSc in Molecular Cell Biology with Bioinnovation at UCC. “The award is great recognition of Blaine and Yensi’s hard work during the MSc. The fact that our students can compete successfully with a science-based, entrepreneurial idea really validates everything that we are trying to do with the MSc,” said Dr Kellie Dean, Lecturer in the School of Biochemistry and Cell Biology and Coordinator of the MSc in Molecular Cell Biology with Bioinnovation.
With over 1,400 applications to Local Enterprise Offices for this year’s competition, only 24 finalists from 17 counties competed for the overall title, and 9 of those made a live pitch to the judging panel in the final round held at Google Foundry in Dublin.
Details for all of the finalists can be found at http://www.ibye.ie and by searching #IBYE on social media and YouTube. Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur Competition was supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the network of Local Enterprise Offices, Enterprise Ireland and Google.