Enda O'Connell 2014 Research Article

Medicines, by Dr. Enda O’Connell

In the ninth of our weekly series of articles, I have taken off my ReelLIFE SCIENCE hat and put on my Scientist hat.  Or labcoat, gloves and goggles, to be more precise…  As a Senior Technical Officer in NUI Galway, I support a range of research projects across the campus, from Cancer Biology and Stem Cell Research to Chemistry and Biomaterials.  In this article, I write about ‘Medicines’ and how researchers at NUI Galway are looking for new uses for old drugs.

The History of Medicines

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Chinese Emperor Shennong tasting plants to test their qualities on himself (image from Wikipedia)

The word ‘medicine’ originally comes from the Latin phrase ‘ars medicina’, which translates as the ‘art of healing’, while the Oxford English Dictionary defines medicine (n) as ‘a substance or preparation used in the treatment of illness; a drug’. The earliest medicines were plant extracts, animal parts and minerals, and their use in healing rituals overseen by medicine men and shamans, often involved much more art than science.  Continue reading “Medicines, by Dr. Enda O’Connell” →

Enda O'Connell 2014 Research Article

The Power of Science, by Dr. Oliver Carroll

In the eighth of our weekly series of articles by NUI Galway researchers, Dr. Oliver Carroll, Research Technical Officer with the Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials, writes about the power of tissue engineering to help the body to repair injured or degenerated tissue.

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Various scaffolds used to promote cell growth and tissue repair: Osteoblast cultured on calcium phosphate scaffold. Collagen sponge for bone regeneration. Collagen sponge for wound healing. Nerve cells cultured on non-aligned collagen scaffold. Aligned electrospun nanofibres (Images courtesy NFB http://www.nfb.ie/research)

Cell regeneration therapy is a developing technology to meet the increasing demand to treat injured or degenerated tissue. Organ transplants are the ideal treatment for many patients with tissue damage, but the demand of organs surpasses available organs for transplantation. There are several types of cell-based regenerative therapies currently being applied, including injection of isolated cells, scaffold engineering, and cell sheet tissue engineering.  Continue reading “The Power of Science, by Dr. Oliver Carroll” →

Enda O'Connell 2014 Research Article

Exploring the Cell, by Dr. Jessica Hayes

In ‘Exploring the Cell‘, the sixth in our weekly series of articles by NUI Galway researchers, Dr. Jessica Hayes, Research Fellow within the Orthobiologics group in the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI), takes us on a journey inside the cell and tells us how stem cells are being used in medicine to encourage the body to repair itself.

Cells – the building blocks of the human body. Here we demonstrate how molecules form cells. Groups of cells in turn form tissue which combines with different tissues to form an organ such as the heart, stomach, brain etc. Several organs that function together form an organ system i.e. cardiovascular, respiratory, reproductive systems etc. (Image source: http://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/introduction-to-the-human-body-chapter-1/deck/282266)
Figure 1: Cells – the building blocks of the human body. Here we demonstrate how molecules form cells. Groups of cells in turn form tissue which combines with different tissues to form an organ such as the heart, stomach, brain etc. Several organs that function together form an organ system i.e. cardiovascular, respiratory, reproductive systems etc. (Image source: http://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/introduction-to-the-human-body-chapter-1/deck/282266)

The Latin phrase ‘Omnis cellula e cellula’ or, all cells come from cells, was made popular by the German pathologist Dr Rudolph Virchow, and it is this concept that forms the basis of regenerative medicine. But what are cells and why are they so important?

Continue reading “Exploring the Cell, by Dr. Jessica Hayes” →