An Post unveiled four €1 stamps on Wed 5 September titled “Irish Scientific Discoveries” at the international Schrodinger at 75 Conference in the National Concert Hall. The series of stamps highlight recent scientific discoveries made by scientists who work in pioneering research and development in Ireland.

The science-based stamps represent new areas of research, which are generating new knowledge, cutting-edge technology, and competitive enterprise. The four topics are examples of innovative and impactful academic research being carried out in academic institutions around the country: these are new forms of light, fighting superbugs, emissions adsorption, and INFANT’s seizure prediction algorithm.

Created by An Post in partnership with Science Foundation Ireland, the Irish Scientific Discovery stamps feed into Ireland’s rich scientific history, recognising its growing reputation for scientific excellence worldwide.  This standing is evidenced by Ireland’s ascent in global ranking of scientific citations – now the 10th most innovative country in the world (Global Innovation Index) and 11th for overall IMD World Competitive Ranking, 2017. A 2016 report into Opportunities and Challenges for European Tech Employers also showed 29% of Ireland’s population are now employed in science and technology.

Science Foundation Ireland– an agency of the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation – is the national foundation for investment in scientific and engineering research and contributes to societal and economic awareness of the value of science, technology, engineering and maths to our economy and society. Science Foundation Ireland were involved in the selection of scientific breakthroughs which feature on the stamps.

Speaking at the launch of the stamps at the Schrodinger at 75 conference, Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland, said: ‘I am delighted to launch the stamp series dedicated to science in Ireland with An Post today. The release of the stamps comes at a fitting time, coinciding with the prestigious Schrodinger at 75 conference which welcomes Nobel Laureates and top researchers from around the world to Dublin. It is great to see our scientific achievements as a country being celebrated, as it is important to acknowledge our impact to date and to inspire our future work. This collection aims to showcase the excellent science and technology research ongoing across the country and encourages people to engage with it. The selected case studies represent just one small facet of the superb and wide-ranging contributions that Irish scientists are making to international advancements in STEM.’

The scientific discoveries featured on the stamps are a credit to the institutions from which this new and exciting work is coming, they recognise the teams and individuals who are applying their minds and their experience to new discoveries and they show the importance of scientific investment and research in shaping the future.   The stamps are designed by Dublin based design agency, Detail, and are available in the GPO, Dublin, at selected post offices nationwide or online at www.irishstamps.ie

MINISTER COVENEY OPENS NEW €5MILLION UCC PAEDIATRIC ACADEMIC UNIT

Ireland’s first integrated paediatric academic unit was officially opened on Monday 18th June by Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney, T.D. Following a multi-million euro investment by University College Cork, Science Foundation Ireland, and a generous philanthropic donation, the new unit is located in an exceptional tri-location between Cork University Hospital, Cork University Maternity Hospital, and University College Cork.

The first of its kind in Ireland, the new paediatric academic unit focuses on improving health outcomes for children, from infancy through to adolescence through teaching, research, and innovation. Home to more than 60 staff, including clinical and academic leaders, scientists, nursing staff and PhD researchers; the academic teams tackle clinical problems such as newborn brain injury, infant seizures, allergy, eczema, sleep, and explore ways of enhancing the long-term wellbeing and development of children.

Speaking at the official opening, Tánaiste Simon Coveney T.D. said, “This is a progressive and innovative step to improving children’s health in Ireland and internationally through academic research. The collaboration between clinicians, researchers, industry, trainees, patients and their families will yield enormously positive results to shape paediatric healthcare of the future. I would like to acknowledge the vision of UCC and the College of Medicine and Health in leading this development with the SFI funded INFANT Centre. The funding model for this initiative should also be lauded which has allowed significant exchequer funds via SFI and philanthropy to leverage substantial support from UCC to realise the overall investment required. ”

The new unit has a substantial footprint of 1400M2 covering 32 rooms, including state of the art assessment rooms for clinical studies, seminar rooms, clinical skills rooms, tutorial rooms, offices and laboratory spaces. The unit is the new home for both Paediatric Academic training and the paediatric clinical research arm of the world leading SFI-funded INFANT Centre. The unit will facilitate a range of clinical research programmes that will improve children’s health and support the exploration and development of new innovations by industry.

President of UCC, Patrick O’Shea noted “UCC is proud to invest in this facility as it will provide world-class teaching and research with real impact. The facility is now home to one of the leading paediatric research departments in Ireland and the clinical research of INFANT, a world-leading SFI Research Centre, which will support long-term sustainable and impactful research, talent development, and training for children’s research”.

Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health, Jonathan Hourihane noted, “This facility in the School of Medicine is integrated with the Cork University Hospital paediatric outpatient departments on the floor below. This will allow tomorrow’s doctors to see research-led healthcare being developed and delivered and will make patient research more understandable and accessible for children”.

“The development of clinical research infrastructure and research studies for children and infants is absolutely vital and will result in better outcomes for Irish children. Recruitment and retention of patients to clinical studies here in Cork leads the way in Europe. We are incredibly grateful to the Irish families who participate in our research and would like to take this opportunity to thank them sincerely for their dedication and support.” said Geraldine Boylan, Co-Founder and Director of the INFANT Research Centre and UCC Professor of Neonatal Physiology. “We would also like to sincerely acknowledge the support of the College of Medicine & Health, UCC Central Research Support Services for all of their assistance and ongoing support, and our colleagues in the Clinical Research Facility-Cork”.

New Research our Sphere Programme PhD candidate, Gillian Maher, has been published in JAMA Psychiatry.

The work is exploring the association between hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and other neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring.

Examining what the pooled estimates are from existing literature exploring the association between hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring, the systematic review and meta-analysis of 61 studies suggested that exposure to hypertensive disorders of pregnancy is associated with a small yet statistically significant increase in the odds of autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in offspring compared with no exposure.

Gillian and the team recommend increased developmental screening of infants who have been exposed to hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, as this could allow for early intervention, which in turn may improve neurodevelopmental outcome.

FULL PAPER HERE: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2681643

INFANT is pleased to announce that it has been awarded €800,000 under the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI2) to improve clinical trial infrastructure for children and infants in Ireland.  Part of this funding will be used to set up a new network, In4Kids, to facilitate the development of new drugs for children in Ireland.  In4Kids will be the Irish hub of the pan-European multidisciplinary network.

CONECT4CHILDREN (C4C), comprising academia, medical institutions, industry, and affiliated partners.  The C4C consortium has been awarded €140 million by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI2) to improve clinical trial infrastructure for children and infants.  Partnership in the C4C network will provide In4Kids members with a gateway to access future funding from the network for Irish research.

Speaking at the launch of In4Kids, INFANT Director Prof Geraldine Boylan said, “Children must have access to innovative therapies and medicines that have been developed with the same rigour and urgency as those developed for adults.  The C4C network with its Irish partner, In4Kids, will accelerate the availability of high-quality scientific data that will improve the safe and effective use of medicines in children.”

With a budget of €140 million, C4C is one of the biggest awards funded through the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2, funded jointly by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovative programme as well as the European Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).   The national hub for in4kids will be led by Clinical Research Development Ireland and will bring together a range of children’s clinical research experts, research organisations (e.g. NCRC) and specialty networks in Ireland (e.g. HRB Mother & Baby Network Ireland)

The network also aims to work with parent groups, young people’s advisory groups, regulators and other key partners in children’s research in Ireland.

Welcoming the launch of In4Kids, Dr Pat O Mahony, CEO of CRDI (Clinical Research Development Ireland) said, “The further development of the clinical research infrastructure and research activities for children and infants in Ireland under In4Kids will result in better outcomes for Irish children.  We welcome Ireland’s participation in the C4C programme and look forward to making a significant contribution through the In4kids national network which we are pleased to coordinate and support.”

Up to now, paediatric patients generally receive ‘smaller doses’ of adult medicines or dilution of therapies as they have not been specifically developed and trialled on children. Approximately 60% of medicines and therapies used to treat children have not been studied in children, and over 90% have not been studied in infants^[1].

The In4Kids network will support clinical research for children in Ireland and the development of new treatments. One of the key goals of this project is to support the use of innovative trial designs and new quantitative methods to foster the development of paediatric medicines and to support development in rare paediatric diseases and high medical need areas.  Through this co-ordinated collaboration across Europe that C4C provides, clinical trials will benefit from consistency across implementation, aligned quality standards, co-ordinated engagement with specialist and national networks as well as rigorous strategic and operationally effective trials specifically for children and infants.

Further details about in4kids can be found here:

www.in4kids.ie

We were delighted on Friday 11 May to launch the B-BEST START LifeMatters for Mums, Dads and New Born Babies handbook on Friday with author Dr Margaret O’Rourke, and alongside our Principal Investigator Prof Eugene Dempsey and Director, Professor Geraldine Boylan.

The B-BEST START Programme is part of the Infant Centre’s NeoView Programme, which aims to improve the outcomes of babies in the neonatal unit (NNU) by empowering parents to build their own health, well-being and resilience so that they can be active, informed and emotionally engaged with their new born babies, infants and children.

The focus of the day was on the Neonatal Unit (NNU). The NNU is a unit in the hospital that specialises in the care of babies, particularly those who are born too soon, who have a low birth weight, who have medical conditions that require additional care, and those recovering after surgery. In Ireland, approximately 1 in 10 babies will visit the NNU for at least a few days. The length of stay in the NNU will depend on baby’s size, prematurity, and medical circumstances.

Speaking at the event, Dr Margaret O’Rourke noted that the book helps to empower parents, “Babies need their mums and dads, and the programme is about making them central to their baby’s care. Babies can’t wait: the first 1000 days of their lives are absolutely critical for their future development, and this book helps parents to cope and do the best for their babies”.

The handbook offers a huge opportunity to make a difference to the next generation: the first three years of life (or first 1000 days) are critical to long-term outcomes, as the brain is rapidly developing and building its architecture. Early experiences on the developing brain are hugely important, particularly the relationship and caregiving from parents.

Funded by Science Foundation Ireland and Lincor Solutions, and working collaboratively with the Health Innovation Hub, the NeoView Programme has demonstrated how research, particularly in an intensive environment such as the NNU, can contribute to the care there, and effect change in patient outcomes. Staff have noted that the B-BEST START book can help in taking the “psychological temperature” down as stress can be contagious between parents and staff. The focus on practical activities that parents can do to bolster their resilience makes a huge difference to outcomes, noted by staff as having a very positive impact on parents.

Congratulations to the team!

A collaboration between INFANT, the Embedded Systems group in the Dept of Engineering in University College Cork, and engineers in Tyndall National Institute has won a prestigious Collaboration Award from the Irish Laboratory Awards group.

The Irish Laboratory Awards has established itself as the premier event in Ireland for benchmarking those that demonstrate excellence, best practice, and innovation in Ireland’s laboratories.

The award-winning work is centered on the Brain Stethoscope Design, which is a low-cost and portable device that can acquire and interpret EEG signals (a measure of electrical activity in the brain). The device will provide easy-to-use EEG recording hardware, and software that will give a visual, sound-based and Artificial Intelligence-assisted interpretations to assist in healthcare decision making.

Twelve families bereaved by stillbirth took part in a research study by the Pregnancy Loss Research Group at the INFANT Centre and UCC, the results of which have been published today. Each of the parents detailed the events and experiences leading up to, surrounding and following the diagnosis of a life-limiting condition or stillbirth of their baby. Stressing the importance of good communication and sensitive care from healthcare professionals, the study supports the need for the HSE National Standards for Bereavement care following pregnancy loss and perinatal death to be implemented nationally.

The twelve families were cared for at CUMH and they took part in interviews, detailing the profound impact their experience had on their lives. The diagnosis of stillbirth is devastating and traumatic news. All parents spoke of the relationships they had with the staff who cared for them during their pregnancies and birth of their babies. The interactions with staff left a lasting impression on the family, and in an Irish context where termination of pregnancy is currently not  permissible, this study sheds an important light on the importance of the option of a perinatal palliative care approach for babies and their parents following a significant antenatal  diagnosis.. For parents who receive a life-limiting diagnosis that is likely to result in the death of their baby, the time between diagnosis and the baby’s birth or death, is valuable time where they can be helped to process their loss with the support of a multidisciplinary perinatal bereavement team. Although parents who experience an unexpected stillbirth do not have time to prepare; the time following diagnosis and the immediate care before, during and after birth offers valuable opportunities for sensitive bereavement care.

Dr Keelin O’Donoghue, leader of the Pregnancy Loss Research Group and Principal Investigator in the INFANT Centre noted:

“Staff have a huge impact on how parents experience care at a traumatic time. Good communication and empathic care are essential. The parents in this study remembered their interactions in vivid detail and while clinicians cannot change the devastating news that a baby has died, they do have control over how they communicate and care. AsNational Lead for the implementation of the HSE Bereavement Standards following pregnancy loss and perinatal death, we can learn from these parents’ experiences to ensure we provide consistent compassionate bereavement care in all our maternity hospitals” care”.

Critically important to each family was the creation of their baby’s unique identity: all parents named their baby, and this helped to create their baby’s identity and integrate them into their family. The parents treasured the finite time they had between their birth and their burial. Each of these babies had an enduring importance and will forever be a part of their family.

Every year across Ireland, approximately 500 babies die around the time of birth. The Pregnancy Loss Research Group in UCC and the INFANT Centre are working to understand and underlying causes of pregnancy loss and stillbirth and improve understanding and awareness amongst healthcare professionals.

Twitter handles:

• @PLOSONE
• @danielnuzum
• @keelinodonoghue
• @sarahmeaney5
• @pregnancylossIE
• @infantcentre

We are delighted that our Dr Deirdre Twomey has won the Cure and Care award at the jENS 2017 Conference in Venice on 1 November.

The jENS 2017 conference is a joint meeting of all the European Neonatal societies, the largest European Neonatal Research meeting to date.

BiHIVE’s Psychology Postdoctoral Researcher Deirdre Twomey was chosen to present her research abstract from the >800 submitted to the jENS conference and she was nominated for the Young Investigator Award.

Nine nominees presented their research during a special session at the conference and Deirdre won the Cure and Care Award for her presentation “Touchscreens for cognitive assessment of toddlers”.

The presentation allowed Deirdre to engage with key stakeholders and world leaders in the field of neurology, brain injury, and neurodevelopment and will lead to collaborations and future research.

This Research Day will share, promote and facilitate discussion on cutting edge, best practice perinatal research from international experts and early career researchers on how to improve health outcomes for pregnancy, infancy and childhood.

The event will take place in the Clayton Hotel, Lapps Quay, Cork. 

Registration Opens at 08:15. 

Our Programme begins at 08:45 with a Welcome Address.

A poster session will take place at the break time.

Lunch will be provided to all attendees.

Pregnancy/Pre-eclampsia Session

Chair: Prof Louise Kenny

09:00 – KEYNOTE: Prof Richard McManus

Self-Monitoring of Blood Pressure to Detect and Manage Hypertension During and After Pregnancy:

Can Women Do It Better?

• 09:45 – Dr Cathal McCarthy – Mitochondrial superoxide scavengers mediate endothlelial dysfunction in pre-eclampsia
• 10:00 – Eoin Roche – Analysis of comparable home / clinic blood pressure readings in the LEANBH population
• 10:15 – Sinead Flanagan – Periconceptual Maternal Alcohol Consumption and Subsequent Behavioural Outcomes at 2 and 5 Years of Age

Birth & Pregnancy Loss Session

Chair: Dr Keelin O’Donoghue

10:45 – KEYNOTE: Prof Anna David

Novel treatments for fetal growth restriction using gene therapy and other innovative approaches​

• 11:30 – Indra San Lazaro Campillo – Ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage hospital admission in Ireland: incidence, type of management and morbidity indicators
• 11.45 – Maeve O’Connell – Prevalence and associated risk factors of tocophobia in an Irish population
• 12:00 – Dr Karen McNamara – Intrapartum Death and Doctors: A Qualitative Exploration

12:15:  Lunch & Poster Session

Neonatology/Nutrition Session

Chairs: Prof Gene Dempsey & Prof Mairead Kiely

13:00 – KEYNOTE: Prof Barry Schifrin

The Timing and Mechanism of Intrapartum Fetal Neurological Injury

• 13:45 – Dr Daragh Finn – Clamping the Umbilical cord in Premature Deliveries
• 14:00 – Dr John O’Toole – Temporal Evolution of Quantitative EEG within 3 Days of Birth in Early Preterm Infants
• 14:15 – Dr Karen Ni Cheallachain – Estimation of the dietary requirement for vitamin D in pregnancy
• 14:30 – Dr Áine Hennessey – No association between maternal or neonatal vitamin D status and atopic disease in 2- and 5-year-old children in the Cork BASELINE Birth Cohort Study

Bitesize Thesis

Chairs: Prof Fred Adam & Dr Ria O’Sullivan Lago

• 14.45 – Stacey Power – The Experience of Pregnancy with Major Fetal Anomaly
• 14.50 – Sarah Carter – Variation in the Risk of Labour Induction across NHS Trusts in the United Kingdom
• 14.55 – Rachel Williamson – Evidence of mitochondrial dysfunction in Pre-eclampsia
• 15.00 – Gillian Maher – Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy and Risk of Neurodevelopmental Disorders in the Offspring: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
• 15.05 – Deirdre Hayes-Ryan – Placental Growth Factor
• 15.10 – Mark O’Sullivan – Neonatal Brain Stethoscope
• 15.15 – Alison O’Shea – Neonatal Seizure Detection using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks

Participant Experiences Session

Chair: Dr Ria O’Sullivan Lago

15:45 – 16:15 – KEYNOTE:  Ms Sally Crowe

Research and Involvement

• 16:15 – Carla Gower – Understanding the Experiences of Fathers of Infants with Congenital Heart Disease
• 16:30 – Dr Deirdre Twomey – The Subjective Experiences of Parents Participating in the BiHIVE #2 Study
• 16:45 – Dr Sarah Meaney – When One Twin Dies: Parents’ Experience of Perinatal Palliative Care

Closing Talk:

17:00 – Prof David Henshall, Director Future Neuro

Booking Link:https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/infant-research-day-2017-tickets-36438377167

WMB held its 11th annual Women Mean Business Conference & Awards in Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel on 2nd October. The event recognises the achievements of businesswomen and entrepreneurs across Ireland. Prof Louise Kenny of the INFANT Centre was honoured with the WMB Woman in Technology Award for 2017 for her work as founding director of Metabolomic Diagnostics, a medical diagnostics company. Working with UCC, they are developing a breakthrough technology to provide predictive diagnosis of pre-eclampsia in early pregnancy. This technology has the potential to revolutionise prenatal care globally and save lives. In addition, it will dramatically reduce overall healthcare costs around the world.

Opening the event, An Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise & Innovation, Frances Fitzgerald TD said: “With the variety of awards here today, we can see the breadth of women’s ingenuity and ability to perform at a high level in the business world… As Minister for Business, Enterprise & Innovation, I am now in a job where I will seek to ensure that women in business are the leaders in business”.