Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD has today announced funding of €2 million to support four research projects led by RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences through Science Foundation Ireland’s Frontiers for the Future programme.

The RCSI projects will facilitate novel research in breast cancer, colorectal cancer, anti-cancer drugs and skeletal injury and disease.

The successful RCSI recipients are:

• Dr Oran Kennedy, Department of Anatomy and Regenerative Medicine, is awarded €616,775 for the project 'OsteoLeukins: osteocytes as an important source of interleukins in skeletal injury and disease'
• Dr Jamie O'Sullivan, School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, is awarded €614,342 for the project 'Examining the role of von Willebrand Factor as a potential therapeutic target in triple negative breast cancer'
• Dr Darren Griffith, Department of Chemistry, is awarded €535,065 for the project 'Development of Pt-based PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras (Pt-PROTACs) as molecular probes for Pt-binding proteins and next generation anticancer agents'
• Dr Simon Furney, Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, is awarded €302,246 for the project 'NoCoSMiCC: non-coding somatic mutations in colorectal cancer'

Societal problems

The RCSI researchers were awarded funding under the project stream of the SFI Frontiers for the Future programme which supports high-risk, high-reward research projects that will facilitate highly innovative and novel approaches to research.

Professor Fergal O’Brien, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at RCSI, said: “RCSI’s success in this year’s SFI Frontiers for the Future programme is a testament to the high-quality, focused health sciences research taking place at the university. Through this programme, our researchers will lead innovative projects that have the potential to bring about vital improvements in diagnostics and therapeutics that will benefit patients in Ireland and globally.”

Minister Harris commented on the programme: “These awards, supported under the SFI Frontiers for the Future programme, will enable research ideas to contribute new knowledge, solving problems faced by our society, while also providing a continuum of support from early career to established researchers, thus growing and retaining top talent in Ireland.

“The SFI Frontiers for the Future programme takes important steps to address gender imbalance and to provide support and opportunity for emerging investigators who are returning to their research after a period of leave.”

Supporting research

Professor Philip Nolan, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland, said: “I am delighted that we are funding 62 new research grants through the SFI Frontiers for the Future programme. A key action of SFI’s strategy is to deliver 140 investigator grants every year to support excellent research and to attract top talent. The Frontiers for the Future programme is the primary mechanism to achieve this goal. It is vital that we invest in excellent and innovative research in Ireland.”

The RCSI awards were part of the wider announcement made by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD for 62 grants valued at €42m to support research across 13 Higher Education Institutions through SFI’s Frontiers for the Future programme.