INFANT Lead Investigator Wins InterTradeIreland Award

By |2023-10-20T15:33:57+01:00October 20th, 2023|

Dr. Mark O’Sullivan, INFANT Lead Investigator and co-founder of NeuroBell, was awarded the “Best Early Stage” Munster regional trophy at the InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Munster regional final. The winners were awarded €20,000 and will advance to the All-Island final in Dublin on the 9th of November. The InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition is the largest business competition of its kind on the island of Ireland, Seedcorn has an overall prize fund of €300,000. NeuroBell has developed a novel medical device for early detection and monitoring of seizures in newborn infants. Dr. Mark O’Sullivan, Chief Executive of NeuroBell said:

“It is absolutely fantastic to win this award and it will greatly help us in progressing our plans for the business. The prize money will assist our research and development work to make our product globally scalable. As we are in the process of raising Seed Round investment with a view to launching in the US and across Europe, the competition has provided a great opportunity to refine and get feedback on our business plan.”

The leaders of the six innovative start-up and early-stage companies from across Munster took part in a competitive final on 17th October at the Strand Hotel, Limerick. As part of the process, finalists presented their investment proposal to a panel of judges that included active investors.

The winning entrants successfully demonstrated to the panel of judges why they believe their businesses are investor ready. The regional winners in Munster will have the opportunity to compete for the overall €100,000 prize at the final. Shane O’Hanlon, Funding for Growth Manager at InterTradeIreland said:

This year’s Munster regional final was a very competitive process across the ‘Best New Start’ and ‘Best Early Stage’ categories. Both categories had three very innovative and ambitious entrants that showcased their business plans in a professional and engaging manner. Year-on-year the InterTradeIreland Seedcorn competition attracts start-up and early-stage companies that are entrepreneurial in their approach. Mavarick and Neurobell, impressed the judges with their vision and future business plans. On behalf of all of us at InterTradeIreland, I wish both companies the best of luck at the All-Island final on the 9th of November.

For start-ups and early-stage businesses, the InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor-Readiness Competition provides a platform to demonstrate why these companies believe they are ‘investor ready’ and open to a funding injection. As part of the Munster regional final, companies pitched their business plan to a panel of industry judges that included Alison Currie (InterTradeIreland), Andrew O’Neill (ACT Venture Capital), Brendan Boland (Loci Orthopaedics) and Gavin Pitcher (CKS Finance). The process mirrored a real-life investment process, and each finalist has received expert feedback on its business plan and pitch, as well as increased exposure to investors.

For the third consecutive year, an additional €20,000 prize will be awarded for best investment proposal from a company operating in the low carbon/green sector.

For all the latest information on Seedcorn visit: www.intertradeireland.com/seedcorn

Source: Mavarick and Neurobell Announced as Winners of InterTradeIreland’s Seedcorn Munster Final| InterTradeIreland

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Launch of Ireland’s National Preterm SPN Study

By |2023-10-20T14:21:23+01:00October 20th, 2023|

The National Standardised Parenteral Nutrition (SPN) Study was launched on Friday 6th October at the RCPI Faculty of Paediatrics Autumn Conference. 

  • What is the National SPN Study? 

Irish neonatal units have recently implemented a new National Model of Care for Preterm Standardised Parenteral Nutrition (SPN). This is a two-part nutrition system including SPN products and an accompanying protocol. This transdisciplinary study including national survey and interviews will evaluate the current use and future opportunities of the new Model of Care, to continue to improve the nutrition and outcomes of preterm infants in our care.

This study is endorsed by the Health Service Executive National Parenteral Nutrition Expert Group.

  • Who is it for? 

Healthcare Professionals who work with preterm SPN in maternity neonatal units in Ireland. This includes Consultant Neonatologists, Paediatricians and Registrars, Staff Nurses, Nurse Managers and Advanced Nursed Practitioners, Dietitians and Pharmacists.

  • Who’s involved – research team 

This study is being conducted by a transdisciplinary team including Professor Eugene Dempsey,  Consultant Neonatologist & Horgan Chair & INFANT PI, Dr Ann-Marie Brennan, Clinical Specialist Neonatal Dietician, Dr Brendan Murphy, Consultant Neonatologist, Sarah Fenton, Neonatal Pharmacist, Professor Ciara Heavin, Professor of Information Systems, Dr Aileen Murphy, Senior Health Economist, Dr Aoife Fleming, Senior Pharmacy Lecturer.

  • How to find out more info?

Please contact your local neonatal dietitian if you like to get involved and complete the online anonymous survey. If you would like more information about the study, please contact Sarah Fenton sarah.fenton@ucc.ie or Dr. Ann-Marie Brennan ann-marie.brennan@ucc.ie

  • Quotes of support

Dr Anne Doolan (Consultant Neonatologist, Coombe Hospital): ‘Irish research has produced the SPN protocol. It adheres to ESPHGAN guidelines, has provided consistency and directly improved care of tiny babies in Ireland. This study is essential to provide data on how clinicians are using the protocol.’

Roberta McCarty (Dietitian Manager, Neonatology, The National Maternity Hospital): ‘This study will provide the first national data on how clinicians are using the SPN protocol for babies born preterm, which is so important to support our efforts to improve patient care.’ 

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INFANT Appoints new Principal Investigator

By |2023-10-19T09:35:09+01:00October 19th, 2023|

INFANT Research Centre are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Brian Walsh to INFANT Principal Investigator. Prof Walsh is a Consultant Neonatologist in Cork University Maternity Hospital, Lead Investigator at INFANT and Associate Professor in Neonatology, Department of Paediatrics & Child Health, UCC.

Brian’s research focuses on newborns at high risk of cerebral injury. In particular, he has studied different methods for the early identification of brain injury, and in optimizing neuro-protection strategies, to hopefully improve their outcomes.

INFANT Director, Prof Geraldine Boylan welcomes the appointment “I am delighted to welcome Brian to the leadership team of INFANT, recognising his exceptional expertise and outstanding contributions to neonatal brain research. Brian’s leadership will further strengthen our position to be at the international forefront of innovative and impactful research in maternal and child health”

Prof Walsh graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 2004. He was awarded a Molecular Medicine Ireland Clinician Scientist Fellowship in 2009, and studied the ability for early blood biological markers to determine the severity of Hypoxic Ischaemic Encephalopathy in newborns. He was awarded his PhD for this work by UCC in 2014. From 2013 to 2017, he completed his neonatal training in Boston, working first as a Fellow, and then Chief Fellow, on the Harvard Neonatal Perinatal Fellowship Program. Following the fellowship, he became an Attending Neonatologist in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, with an academic appointment to Harvard Medical School, before returning to Cork.

Brian joined INFANT as a Lead Investigator in 2021 and continues to work on furthering the ability to accurately identify newborns at high risk of brain injury, and to improve their outcomes.

He is currently leading the Early Detection of Cerebral Palsy(CP) in Ireland project. This is a collaborative multi-site project currently being conducted across all tertiary neonatal units in Ireland, with plans for further expansion. The project is using implementation science methods to introduce a standardised evidence-based approach to the assessment of children who are born at increased risk of CP. The aim of the project is to reduce the age at which CP is diagnosed among these children. Brian is also the Site lead on the international multi-centre Coolprime study. This is a comparative effectiveness trial aimed at providing evidence on the impact and safety of therapeutic hypothermia among newborns with mild encephalopathy.

Prof Walsh is looking forward to his new role, ‘The INFANT centre has a tremendous track record in advancing neonatal and paediatric research, leading to real world benefits for children. I’m very excited to be taking on a new role as Principal Investigator in INFANT and helping to further advance this important work.’

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INFANT PI, Professor Deirdre Murray announced as Chair in Early Brain Injury and Cerebral Palsy

By |2023-10-05T16:23:47+01:00October 6th, 2023|

Friday, 6 October 2023:  Today on World Cerebral Palsy Day, University College Cork (UCC) has announced the appointment of Professor Deirdre Murray as the new Chair in Early Brain Injury and Cerebral Palsy, as part of a new programme of excellence to revolutionise the delivery of cerebral palsy care in Ireland.

In May, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation (CPF) announced that UCC as one of three new clinical and research hubs to help establish Ireland as an international leader in Cerebral Palsy (CP) care and research.

As part of the programme, CPF is investing €1.6 million to advance research in early brain injury and cerebral palsy at the Irish Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research (INFANT), UCC.

A UCC alumnus, Professor Murray graduated from UCC in 1995 before completing paediatric training in Paediatric Intensive Care Medicine in Bristol Royal Hospital for Sick Children, and later working as a Paediatric Intensive care Fellow in the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. In 2012 she was awarded a prestigious Health Research Board Clinician Scientist Award for the BiHiVE study, an ongoing project focusing on the discovery and validation of biomarkers in neonatal brain injury.

A Consultant Paediatrician, Paediatric Research Lead at INFANT and Professor of Paediatrics, in UCC’s Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Deirdre’s research is focused on early brain injury and the development of new ways to predict and assess neurocognitive outcome in children.

Rachel Byrne, Executive Director of the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, said: “We established the CP Programme of Excellence to vastly improve the care provided to people with cerebral palsy in Ireland; from childhood right through to adulthood. We know that the correct interventions at an early age can have a huge impact on the lifespan of people living with cerebral palsy. Professor Murray will lead incredibly important research on early brain injury that will inform how we treat and support children with cerebral palsy and ensure they have the best possible outcomes.”

Professor Geraldine Boylan, Director of INFANT, said: “Congratulations to Professor Deirdre Murray on her well-deserved appointment as Chair in Early Brain Injury and Cerebral Palsy at UCC.  Professor Murray’s expertise in this important leadership role will allow us to focus our early brain injury research on early detection and interventions for cerebral palsy.   We are immensely grateful to the Cerebral Palsy Foundation for this strategic funding which also highlights our growing partnership and joint commitment to effect positive change for people with cerebral palsy.”

Professor Deirdre Murray said: “I am very honoured to assume the role of Chair in Early Brain Injury and Cerebral Palsy. This signifies an important step forward and I am committed to leading our research efforts at INFANT in partnership with the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, to make Ireland a leading country for research into early brain injury and more importantly to improve health outcomes for children with cerebral palsy and their families.”

Currently the most common lifelong physical disability acquired during childhood, cerebral palsy is diagnosed in approximately 150 children each year in Ireland. Early diagnosis in babies can lead to much better outcomes. The Cerebral Palsy Foundation’s partnership with UCC will enable researchers at INFANT to generate critical knowledge that will transform outcomes for children with Cerebral Palsy and their families.

Professor John F. Cryan, UCC Vice-President for Research and Innovation said: “Congratulations to Professor Deirdre Murray on her appointment as the new Chair in Early Brain Injury and Cerebral Palsy, and sincere thanks to the Cerebral Palsy Foundation for their continued partnership with UCC. In the coming months, we will launch UCC Futures – Children and UCC Futures – Ageing and Brain Science, and Professor Murray’s research expertise in early brain injury and cerebral palsy will be very important in these two areas of research prioritisation at UCC.”

Professor Helen Whelton, Head of College of Medicine and Health, UCC said: “Congratulations to Professor Deirdre Murray and INFANT Research Centre, UCC for the excellent work being done by our clinicians and researchers to help revolutionise cerebral palsy care in Ireland which will improve health outcomes and so change the trajectory of people’s lives.”

The creation of this new Chair at UCC in Early Brain Injury and Cerebral Palsy will build on an existing collaboration between the Cerebral Palsy Foundation and the INFANT Centre on the ‘Early Detection and Intervention for Cerebral Palsy in Ireland’ study. This is a national, multi-centre cohort study led by INFANT and coordinated by In4kids, the HRB Irish Network for Children’s Clinical Trials.

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HRB invests €1.9 million in UCC research to address emerging health challenges

By |2023-10-04T08:12:47+01:00October 4th, 2023|

High blood pressure during pregnancy, strategies for preventing drug overdose and the factors associated with suicide risk in older adults are among the health and social care research projects to receive funding from the Health Research Board’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme.

Five post-doctoral researchers at UCC’s School of Public Health, National Suicide Research Foundation (NSRF) and the Irish Centre for Maternal & child Health Research (INFANT) have received a total of €1.9 million in funding to investigate and find solutions for public health challenges.

Dr Peter Barrett, based in INFANT and the School of Public Health in UCC, has received €830,000 in research funding for his project investigating the long-term impact of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy on maternal health, and exploration of optimal models of follow-up care for affected women in Ireland.

“This project will focus on high blood pressure during pregnancy, and how we use obstetric information to predict the risk of chronic diseases in later life. We know that risk factors during pregnancy can offer insights into long-term maternal health outcomes. There are huge opportunities to harness this information for the prevention of age-related diseases in later life. I am excited to work on this project with the teams in INFANT, the School of Public Health, and with both academic and health service partners from Ireland and overseas. It is important that we apply the research findings here to affected groups in the community, and to the Irish health service,” said Dr Barrett.

The five funded post-doctoral researchers are:

  • Dr Susan Calnan: Improving public health through better implementation of alcohol policy: A multimethod study examining and addressing the factors influencing successful implementation. This research will provide evidence to help policymakers and stakeholders to better understand factors that influence the successful implementation of public health alcohol policy and look at ways to improve these factors so that alcohol policies are effectively implemented to help reduce harms from alcohol. Funding amount: €255,013.
  • Dr Caroline Daly: RESTRICT – REducing intentional overdose: a mixed methods STudy of means RestrICTion interventions. Submitted under the National Suicide Research Foundation – UCC Memorandum of Collaboration, this research aims to prevent intentional overdose by studying the impact of measures to restrict access to drugs. Delivered by a team of individuals from different disciplines including mental health professionals, policy makers, researchers and people with experiences of self-harm, findings from this research will provide a comprehensive understanding of intentional overdose in Ireland and inform future measures to restrict access to drugs and to prevent self-harm and suicide. Funding amount: €284,976.
  • Dr Fiona Riordan: Identifying social determinants and mapping organisational and personal networks to enhance community support for people living with multimorbidity. With people from disadvantaged communities developing chronic health conditions earlier in life, this project aims to find ways to better support people living with multiple conditions within disadvantaged areas in Ireland, and discuss the findings with a range of stakeholders, including policymakers, healthcare managers and representatives from non-clinical community services. Funding amount: €268,243.
  • Dr Isabela Troya: Revisiting suicide prevention in later life: human-centred approaches in an ageing Ireland. Annually in Ireland, over 400 people die by suicide and a further 12,000 are hospitalised following self-harm, of which 15% are older adults. The aim of this study is to improve the understanding of factors associated with self-harm and suicide risk in older adults aged >60 and thus co-produce clinical and policy guidance to reduce suicidal behaviour in older adults. Submitted under the National Suicide Research Foundation – UCC Memorandum of Collaboration, this research should help strengthen and inform national suicide prevention strategies. Funding amount: €266,416.
  • Dr Peter Barrett: An investigation of the long-term impact of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy on maternal health, and exploration of optimal models of follow-up care for affected women in Ireland. This research will answer some of the uncertainties regarding long-term risks following high blood pressure during pregnancy, using existing large-scale datasets of over 2 million mothers in Sweden and follow their progress post pregnancy for up to 48 years. Funding amount: €830,000.

Dr Mairéad O’Driscoll, HRB Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted to announce the latest round of funding in these HRB Postdoctoral Fellowship schemes. They are a key pillar in the HRB’s Research Career Framework. This framework provides a coordinated, coherent approach to building the capacity and capability of academic researchers and health and social care practitioners to respond to current and emerging health research needs.”

Congratulating the five award 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 Health Research Board awards, in key areas which will address critical health and social care challenges. These awards will provide the researchers with an opportunity to enhance their career development and deliver on excellent societal research outcomes.”

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