As part of the first Brazil-Ireland Science Week RCSI School of Postgraduate Studies, in collaboration with the Tissue Engineering Group (TERG); RCSI Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry; the 3U-Centre of Excellence in the Neuroscience (COEN); and the RCSI Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, hosted a symposium to showcase research conducted in RCSI.

The day-long symposium which took place in RCSI on Thursday, 26 February was part of a series of events to mark Brazil-Ireland Science Week, in tandem with a major conference, Collaborative Research for a Better Future, which took place in Dublin Castle.

RCSI contributors at the Dublin Castle event included Professor Fergal O'Brien, Head of the Tissue Engineering Research Group and Deputy Director of Applied Research at RCSI chaired a session on the first day of the conference entitled ‘The Role of Research Centres in Developing Cutting Edge Scientific Research'. The event also included contributions from the Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, RCSI Centre for the Study of Neurological Disorders (CSND) and the 3U-Centre of Excellence in the Neuroscience (COEN) in a Brazilian/Irish Neuroscience Centres Collaborative Workshop which took place on Tuesday, 24 February.

The aim of the meeting was to discuss potential opportunities to increase future collaborations between Brazilian and Irish Neuroscience Centres. Delegates presenting at the meeting were RCSI's Professors Jochen Prehn, David Henshall and Dr Hans Georg Konig along with Brazillian delegates Professor Sergio Ferreira and Dr Cecilia Hedin-Pereira from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

Thursday's symposium at RCSI began with presentations from RCSI's TERG laboratory and the Federal University of Rio De Janeiro on their ongoing collaboration in the area of Bioengineering and Cell Therapy. The Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry highlighted the diverse chemistry-based research activities being undertaken at RCSI and met with Brazilian delegates interested in potential collaborations. The Department also host a seminar by Ana Maria da Costa Ferreira, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of São Paulo, Institute of Chemistry (IQ-USP) São Paulo, Brazil.

The afternoon scientific meeting on neurological disease featured 3U-COEN, RCSI and Brazilian speakers who showcased their research areas. This event was organised by Dr Hans Georg Konig, RCSI Department of Physiology and Medical Physics and Centre for the Study of Neurological Disorders (CSND) with departmental colleagues who spoke at the event including Professor Jochen Prehn, Professor David Henshall and Dr Tobias Engel. Other RCSI contributors included Professor John Waddington, RCSI Department of Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics; Professors David Cotter, Mary Cannon, Drs Melanie Foecking and Erik O'Hanlon, RCSI Department of Psychiatry; and Professor Norman Delanty; RCSI, Epilepsy Programme, Beaumont Hospital.

On Friday, 27 February, the RCSI Department of Physiology and Medical Physics marked the close of Brazil-Ireland Science Week with a presentation by Professor Sergio Ferreira, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, on the topic ‘Aβ oligomers and brain inflammation link synapse failure to neuronal insulin resistance and depression in Alzheimer's disease’.

Brazil-Ireland Science Week was organised by Research Brazil Ireland (RBI), a strategic cooperation initiative, funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), that brings together a consortium of eleven Irish third-level institutions and research centres to drive a coordinated national approach to promote Ireland's scientific and technological reputation in Brazil and to highlight Ireland's attractiveness as an international research partner.