Photo (Left-Right)

Professor Judy Bradley, Dr Fidelma Moran, Professor Cathy Gormley-Heenan, Dr Elaine Murray, Dr Catherine Hughes, Professor Chris Nugent, Dr Brenda O’Neill and Professor Mary Ward.

On Wednesday 26 April 2017 the successful Ulster University Seed Funding applicants attended an Awards’ Ceremony hosted at the NICRF and attended by the NICRF core team as well as Professor Cathy Gormley-Heenan, Ulster University Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Impact) and Professor Mary Ward (Deputy Director NICRF and Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics, Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, UU).  All awardees gave a short presentation on their research as to how they anticipate that the NICRF will support their pilot research.  They provided data for future programmes of work and they cited anticipated funders for main trials including NIHR and Ireland-US Collaborations.

We would like to congratulate the successful researchers and we look forward to hosting their research in the NICRF.  The successful applicants are:

• Dr Catherine Hughes: “RAFA – Blood pressure lowering effect of B-vitamins in hypertensive adults with a genetic predisposition to elevated blood pressure.” Centre for Molecular Biosciences.
• Dr Fidelma Moran: “Function and physical activity in survivors of critical illness following discharge from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).” Centre for Health and Rehabilitation Technologies.
• Dr Elaine Murray: “Evaluating the effectiveness of DNA methylation patterns for patient stratification in major depressive disorder.” Biomedical Sciences Research Institute.
• Dr Shuai Zhang: “The Gray Matters study in Northern Ireland: Reducing the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease through promoting a healthy lifestyle.” Computer Science Research Institute.

If you would like to know more about the NICRF, we are holding an information session at the Ulster University Coleraine Campus, on Wednesday 24 May 2017.  Please read our news item and the UU advertisement