NUIG has linked up with a leading Chinese research institute to exchange researchers and information on new approaches to cancer treatment.

The Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials (NFB) at NUI Galway formally this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tianjin International Joint Academy of Biotechnology and Medicine (TJAB) and a major Chinese medical technology company China Nucleon Medical Technology Group (CNPK).

The official signing ceremony took place at the Irish Embassy in Beijing on Tuesday and was attended by Minister for Health Dr James Reilly TD, the Irish Ambassador to China, Declan Kelleher and President of NUI Galway, Dr Jim Browne.

TJAB is a new, state-of-the-art, 173 million dollar research facility in Northern China while CNPK is a pioneer in medical imaging for the Chinese pharmaceutical industry and has extensive facilities for clinical trialling and pre-clinical drug development throughout China.

The memorandum is designed to encourage a mutually beneficial relationship which will facilitate the exchange of researchers, the exchange of academic information and the development of collaborative research projects. For the first project under this new agreement, NFB will be collaborating with its Chinese partners to develop a cutting-edge polymer for cancer treatment.

Dr Wenxin Wang, Principal Investigator at NFB, said: “This agreement has huge potential both for the development of new techniques and treatments and for the commercialisation and translation of existing technologies to the clinical environment.

“China is currently emerging as a major player in biomedical research, and establishing these relationships now will pay ever-increasing dividends in the future. NFB is well poised to engage opportunities in China.”

The NFB is a Science Foundation Ireland funded strategic research cluster which has established a critical mass of biomaterials research in Ireland.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.