WIT researchers awarded share of €4.3m Irish Research Council Enterprise Partnership Scheme

Two research projects ‘bone health and safety and well-being of jockeys’, and ‘stabilization of biopharmaceuticals for parenteral use’ awarded funding

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD announced on 17 August 2020 an investment of €4.3 million in 50 enterprise-focused research awards under the Irish Research Council’s (IRC) Enterprise Partnership Scheme.

The investment in the two research projects at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) allows researchers work in close collaboration with partner enterprises Sanofi and Irish Injured Jockeys throughout the duration of their studies.

The two WIT projects awarded funding are:

Novel Processes for the Stabilization of Biopharmaceuticals which will be carried out by researcher Ashutosh Sharma’s project with Sanofi.

Strategies to promote bone health and body composition for the safety and well-being of jockeys which will be carried out by researcher Arthur Dunne with Irish Injured Jockeys.

Dr Mark White, VP Research, Innovation & Graduate Studies at Waterford Institute of Technology welcomed this great achievement of the successful Irish Research Council awards, stating “We value ourselves here in WIT with competing for and delivering high quality, relevant and impactful research projects for our community. Through schemes like the IRC Enterprise Partnership Schemes WIT creates linkages and partnerships with enterprises which are invaluable to embedding our research into the region. Receiving such prestigious awards reminds us and the higher education sector that WIT is ready to start our journey towards becoming the Technological University of the South East.”

Irish Injured Jockey Fund

The development and implementation of novel strategies to promote bone health and body composition for the safety and well-being of jockeys research is in partnership with the Irish Injured Jockey Fund. Arthur Dunne will work under the supervision of Dr SarahJane Cullen (WIT), Dr Giles Warrington (UL) and Dr Michael Harrison (WIT). This work aims to develop and implement novel strategies to promote bone health and body composition for the safety and well-being of jockeys.

Sanofi

Novel Process Strategies for the Stabilization of Biopharmaceuticals for Parenteral Use is in partnership with Sanofi and will see researcher Ashutosh Sharma focus on assessing novel processing technologies and their relevance to the commercial biopharmaceutical products that have never been studied before. The potential impact of these novel technologies will significantly reduce time, energy and costs associated with the manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals.