TCD’s Centre for Systems Biology Enters into Major Research Collaboration with NIBRT and Organon
Posted on: 08 September 2006
Trinity College’s Centre for Systems Biology has entered into a major collaborative research project with the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT)¹ and the multinational biopharmaceutical company, Organon.
Commenting on the significance of the joint research project, TCD’s senior lecturer in neuroscience and principal investigator in the research project, Dr Gavin Davey, stated: “We are extremely excited by this new collaboration as it allows us to utilise our established mathematical and computational techniques in understanding the complex glycosylation systems in cell cultures, a process involving the way in which sugar residues are attached to proteins.”
“We have extensive experience in applying systems biology approaches to biological problems and this is a very welcome opportunity to apply this knowledge to bioprocessing systems,” continued Dr Davey.
In collaboration with TCD’s Professor Keith Tipton and Dr Andrew McDonald of the Centre for Systems Biology, a new team of postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers will immediately commence work on the project. The collaboration is targeted as a multi-annual research programme with associated milestones and will be reviewed and directed by the programme team on a continuous basis. The programme costs for the collaboration will be shared by NIBRT and Organon.
Commenting on the collaborative project, NIBRT director, Dr. Kurt Naujoks said: “Integrating the best research resources in Ireland with NIBRT skills and project management experience demonstrates that NIBRT is the one-stop-shop for the biotechnology and pharma industry. This first programme clearly shows how NIBRT, through its IDA funding can greatly expand the collaborative research opportunities for the Irish academic sector and the biotech industry. It’s particularly welcome that Organon is committing significant resources to this research program – levering NIBRT resources to deliver a great collaboration.”
1.NIBRT is a collaborative partnership between TCD, UCD, DCU and IT Sligo and is funded by IDA Ireland.