Tag Archives: ireland

Dublin’s Newest Bridge to be Named After One of Ireland’s Nobel Prize Winners?

200px-Ernest_WaltonVisitors to Dublin’s city centre recently will probably have noticed that the River Liffey is expecting a new addition to its family of bridges at Marlborough St. which will allow the Luas to light rail system to cross.. Dublin City Council has just announced the shortlist of 17 names from 85 official nominations and will announce which one the bridge will be named after on June 12th. Among the names on the shortlist is Ernest Walton, Ireland’s only Nobel prize winner for science.

Genetic Mystery of Irish Potato Famine Solved.

potatoI’m Currently in the middle of BBC’s fantastic documentary The Story of Ireland, narrated by Fergal Keane. Investigated in one of the episodes are the devastating consequences of the potato blight which caused the Irish Famine in the mid-19th century. Caused by the microorganism, Phytophthora infestans (Latin for ‘plant destroying infestation), the blight destroys the leaves of potato crops causing the potatoes to rot.

Irish Immunology Specialists, Opsona Therapeautics, Receive 33m Investment.

A Trinity College Dublin spin-out, Opsona Therapeutics, has received a 33m fund to aid the developemnt of one of its drugs. The drug, OPN-305, which protects the body from rejection of donor kidneys is set to undergo a Phase II clinical trial in the following months where its tolerability, efficacy and safety will be tested.

Is the science world sluggish to adapt to social media?

On Monday and Tuesday last, Trinity College @tcddublin hosted EISRI 2013: European Intersectoral Summit on Research and Innovation #sciencemedia #EISRI.Summit on Research and Innovation The theme of the summit was the role of media (and new media) in responsible research and innovation with discussions on important topics to the science community and the general public, including research ethics, open access and the role of science journalism. One of the stand-out talks of the day was by Alexander Gerber @InnoKomm, an information scientist and the Managing Director of Innocomm Research, which is a Berlin-based research centre for science and innovation communication.