NUI Galway and Beijing Scientists Collaborate on Biomaterials Research
August 14, 2012 – 4:07 pmFrom the wire: The National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), has signed a deal with a leading Chinese research institute and medical technology firm in Beijing to exchange biomaterials research, reports the Irish Times. Minister for Health James Reilly is scheduled to attend the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) by NUIG President Jim Browne with the Tianjin International Academy of Biotechnology and Medicine and China Nucleon Medical Technology Group.
The MoU will “facilitate the exchange of researchers, the exchange of academic information and the development of collaborative research projects,” according to NUIG. The first project in the partnership will involve collaboration between Galway-based researchers and their Chinese counterparts to develop a polymer for cancer treatment.
NUIG hosts a Science Foundation Ireland–supported research cluster in this field, known as the Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials (NFB).
The Tianjin International Joint Academy of Biotechnology and Medicine is a €140 million research plant in northern China.
The China Nucleon Medical Technology Group is regarded as a pioneer in medical imaging for the Chinese pharmaceutical industry.
“China is currently emerging as a major player in biomedical research, and establishing these relationships now will pay ever-increasing dividends in the future,” said NFB principal investigator Wenxin Wang.
Browne said that such partnerships pointed to Ireland’s “global strength in the biomedical sector and the importance of creating linkages, which will be of mutual benefit to industry and enterprise both in Ireland and in China.”
The university already has partnerships in China, signed during the trade and investment mission led by Taoiseach Enda Kenny to Shanghai and Beijing this year, notes the Irish Times. The NUIG’s existing agreements are with Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Fourth Medical Military University Hospital in Xi’an.
The university’s Regenerative Medicine Institute, which is involved in stem cell research, also has agreements with the Shanghai Institute for Paediatric Research, Bio-X Institutes and the Tangdu Neurosurgery and Neurology Hospital.
