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€2.9m funding awarded to UCC early career researchers in SFI-IRC Pathway Programme awards
Investigating the link between the microbiome and the development of stress-social circuits, the development of novel self-powered eco-friendly supercapacitors, and new approaches to the development of potential anti-viral drugs are amongst the University College Cork (UCC) projects to receive a combined €2.9 million funding under the SFI-IRC Pathway Programme awards announced today by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Patrick O’Donovan TD.
The SFI-IRC Pathway programme is a collaborative initiative between Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Irish Research Council (IRC) to support early-career research across all disciplines and to encourage a cohesive research ecosystem in Ireland.
The awards will enable postdoctoral researchers to develop their career pathway and transition to become independent research leaders. The funding, covering a four-year period, will provide additional support for a postgraduate student who will be primarily supervised by the awardee.
Commenting on the awards, Dr Ruth Freeman, Director, Science for Society at Science Foundation Ireland, said: “We are delighted to work in partnership with our colleagues in the IRC to deliver the SFI-IRC Pathway programme. It provides targeted support to early-career researchers who will use the funding to pursue independent research at the frontiers of knowledge. Investment in these projects will generate novel discoveries and insights across diverse research topics, from environmental sustainability to disease treatment and prevention, to wireless network security.”
The five funded UCC awards are:
Dr Jatin Nagpal, School of Pharmacy and APC Microbiome Ireland
The role of early-life microbiome in sculpting stress-social neural circuits in zebrafish. This project proposes to use zebrafish, a naturally gregarious model with conserved neuroanatomy, to investigate the mechanistic link between the microbiota and development of stress-social circuits. The key findings distilled from these experiments will then be translated to zebrafish models of early-life microbiota disruption with the aim of rescuing the stress-social deficits associated with these models using microbiota-based therapeutics. Funding amount: €592,401
Dr Alessandra Imbrogno, Tyndall National Institute
Green energy storage: development of sustainable supercapacitors by direct laser writing of natural materials (SUPER-GREEN). SUPER-GREEN proposes the development of novel self-powered and eco-friendly supercapacitors whereby electrode materials will be fabricated by direct laser writing of biopolymers and eco-friendly materials will be used as electrolytes. Self-powering features based on triboelectric processes will be incorporated, also using low-cost environmental materials. Funding amount: €570,726
Dr David Jones, School of Chemistry
SOS-Phosphorus: Sustainable Organic Synthesis with Phosphorus. This project will develop new applications of sulfur-containing organophosphorus compounds. These reagents are potentially sustainable entryways into organophosphorus compounds as they can be prepared without using phosphorus trichloride. Herein, the project will develop a fundamentally new way of making P-stereogenic compounds enabled by sulfur. This new approach will be used in the synthesis of potential anti-viral drugs. Funding amount: €589,344
Dr Eileen Ryan, School of Food and Nutritional Sciences
The role of Bacterial Lipids in the micrObe-hOst Dialogue (BLOOD). BLOOD will improve our knowledge by (1) providing a comprehensive, open-access bacterial lipid database (BacLipidMaps) via liquid-chromatography-mass spectrometry based lipidomics and supporting software (2) establishing the type and range of bacterial lipids in humans across various states of heath and disease by profiling biobanked human plasma and faecal samples and utilising data repositories (such as MetaboLights) for appropriate human lipidomic data and (3) isolating specific bacterial lipids and determining their roles in microbe-microbe and microbe-host interactions via shotgun sequencing, mammalian cell culture and gene expression profiling. Funding amount: €592,433
Dr Chinmoy Kundu, Tyndall National Institute
Designing secure integrated sensing and communication systems for next-generation wireless networks (SECURE-ISAC). The aim of the project is to secure the ISAC transmission from eavesdropping. This project will develop secure transmit waveforms and receive beamformers for large-scale ISAC systems consisting of multiple targets against active and passive eavesdroppers while serving multiple users. Funding amount: €581,166
Congratulating the five recipients from University College Cork on their awards, Professor John F. Cryan, UCC Vice President for Research and Innovation said: “Congratulations to these early-career researchers in receiving SFI-IRC Pathway awards, in key research areas that align with our UCC Futures thematic areas, and which will address critical scientific, health, and social challenges and create a sustainable future for all. The awards will provide important support to these emerging researchers, enabling them to develop their track record and transition to become independent research leaders.”