A new National Preclinical Imaging Centre (NPIC), which will provide enhanced research data to inform new clinical trials that aim to improve patient outcomes, has been awarded funding of €3.4 million (US$3.8 million) under the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Infrastructure Programme.
The Centre, which is the first of its kind in Ireland, is being established and co-funded by Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) University of Medicine and Health Sciences, University College Dublin (UCD), and CÚRAM, the SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices, based at National University of Ireland Galway (NUI Galway).
The Centre’s imaging infrastructure will support the development of new therapeutics and diagnostics in human disease areas including cancer, neurology, dementia, psychiatry, cardiology, medical devices, diabetes, tissue engineering, nanomedicine and inflammatory disease.
The Centre will provide a national preclinical imaging resource open to all academic, industry, and not-for-profit researchers and will have locations in Dublin and Galway. NPIC establishes a national preclinical magnetic resonance facility, a national high-field preclinical MR / chemical imaging platform. and incorporates a high-resolution micro-computed tomography and optical imaging laboratory.
“The National Preclinical Imaging Centre’s high resolution imaging technologies will allow the research community in Ireland to respond to future international research challenges and will provide important support infrastructure for SFI Research Centres, Irish academic institutes and industry collaborators,” says Annette Byrne, PhD, director of NPIC and head of the RCSI Precision Cancer Medicine Group, Department of Physiology and Medical Physics and Centre for Systems Medicine at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences. “The Centre’s resources will allow us to work more collaboratively on research projects with clinicians and on training initiatives in radiology, which are critical elements of translating laboratory research finding to improvements in patient care in clinical settings.”
Featured image: Annette Byrne, PhD, director of National Preclinical Imaging Centre, head of the RCSI Precision Cancer Medicine Group, Department of Physiology and Medical Physics and Centre for Systems Medicine at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences. Courtesy RCSI.
