Two Trinity projects awarded over €5million in latest awards from Research Ireland

Posted on: 28 March 2025

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD, has today announced a €17.7 million investment in nine research infrastructure projects through Research Ireland’s Research Infrastructure Programme. The awards will contribute to the advancement of high-quality and high-impact research activities across Ireland. 

The Trinity College Dublin awardees represent two of nine funded projects, worth over €5million combined. The awarded projects and lead researchers from Trinity are:

• NMR Centre of Expertise led by Prof. Mathias Senge, Chair of Organic Chemistry at Trinity College Dublin will provide advanced NMR techniques for chemistry research, including a multi-channel 600MHz NMR and a 400MHz instrument for high-throughput analyses. (€2,649,497) 

NMR Centre of Expertise will provide advanced nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques for chemistry research, including a multi-channel 600MHz NMR and a 400MHz instrument for high-throughput analyses. The grant, supported by Prof. Donal O’Shea, RCSI, University of Medicine and Health Sciences, will allow the purchase of two advanced nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers, one for Trinity and one for RCSI. NMR is a critical infrastructure for investigating molecular structures, materials, and drugs and is of fundamental importance to many research areas and in multidisciplinary research. It allows chemists to establish the structure of molecules and materials, the analysis of unknown substances, and to study the fate of drugs in the body.

Prof. Senge (pictured) said:

“We are absolutely thrilled about the news! One of the biggest current threats to research in Ireland is our aging infrastructure with many systems critical for research and teaching being past their lifetime. Imagine a hospital without magnetic resonance imaging for diagnosis. The centre will be state-of-the-art with complementary instrumentation to tackle any molecular structure problem in chemistry, pharmacy, materials and biomedicinal sciences and will also serve as a training hub for early career researchers.”

• Photon Counting CT for Cardiovascular and Oncology Research, Trinity College Dublin, led by Prof. James Meaney, will expand imaging capabilities with a Photon-counting CT scanner for advanced medical imaging in oncology and cardiovascular research. (€2,721,339) 

The Thomas Mitchell Centre for Advanced Medical Imaging (CAMI) is a state-of-the-art research imaging centre located on the grounds of St. James’s Hospital. Computed Tomography (CT) is the method of choice for the accurate characterisation of the extent and spread of most tumours. Accurate imaging of disease processes and their response to treatment is the backbone of modern medical practice. The CT scanner funded by Research Ireland will provide Improvements in scanner speed and resolution placing CAMI at the cutting-edge of research applications. 

Improved cross-sectional imaging with CT often allows the patient to avoid more invasive alternatives such as catheter angiography in the case of the coronary arteries.

Improved characterisation of the extent of brain damage in stroke leads to better decision making regarding the need to progress to interventional techniques with clot retrieval performed by interventional radiologists.  Almost all improvements in medical imaging come with at a price, often in the case of CT manifesting as slightly increased radiation dose. However, the newest family of scanners, as supported by this application, bring the advantages of improved detail and improved speed without any increase in radiation dose. 

Prof. Meaney (pictured) said:

 “The Research Ireland Infrastructure grants to The Thomas Mitchell Centre ensure that the St James' Hospital/Trinity College Dublin research centre will operate with cutting-edge facilities for the next 10 years.

This grant is part of a €10M development also supported by philanthropy, which in turn is the anchor tenant of a €100M development centred around research cyclotron/PETCT which will allow the development of an exciting new chapter in cancer therapy, that of theranostics, over the next 10 years.”

Announcing the funding, Minister Lawless commented:

“This targeted investment in research infrastructure will help to future-proof the conducting of high-quality research endeavours across our higher education institutions and in a wide range of disciplines. It is important for researchers to be equipped with the innovative tools and the conducive environments that can help deliver research excellence and impact.” 

Dean of Research at Trinity College Dublin, Prof. Sinéad Ryan commented:

“These awards are significant and much-needed investments in the research infrastructure of Ireland, enabling research to thrive. My warm congratulations to Prof. Mathias Senge and Prof. James Meaney on securing two of these awards for Trinity College Dublin, and my sincere thanks to all the research and professional staff who worked with them on these proposals – it is a great pleasure to see successful outcomes for this collective effort.”

Left-right: Interim CEO of Research Ireland, Celine Fitzgerald, Research Infrastructure awardee, Prof. James Meaney of Trinity College Dublin, and Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD

In welcoming the announcement, Celine Fitzgerald, Interim Chief Executive of Research Ireland, said:

“The Research Infrastructure Programme supports the research community in building and sustaining cutting-edge infrastructure to accomplish high-quality, impactful, and innovative research. The programme encourages partnerships and collaboration between different cohorts of researchers in Ireland, across academia and enterprise.”

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