Ulster University: Leading the way towards new therapeutics

Ulster University's Biomedical Sciences Research Institute has added a new state-of-the-art laboratory within its Mass Spectrometry Centre. The new lab is a further boost to the world-class research already taking place at the Coleraine campus across disciplines including nutrition, diabetes, vision science, pharmaceutical science and genomics, and will ultimately lead to the discovery of new treatment pathways and better patient outcomes.

The new laboratory will offer immediate opportunities for increased collaboration with industry. It will also support the proposed drug discovery, food and pharmaceutical innovation centre at the campus that will partner with the clinical frontline, healthcare, veterinary and agri-food sectors.

The Biomedical Sciences Research Institute incorporates a 6,200sq m, £14.5 million Centre for Molecular Biosciences and is Ulster University's largest research institute. The expansion was made possible by over £700,000 in funding from the Northern Ireland Department of Economy's Higher Education Research Capital investment fund which has enhanced the facility's research capacity during the Covid-19 pandemic, enabling important research to continue undisturbed at Coleraine, throughout the challenges of the past year.

The funding has also enabled the university to upgrade its bio-analytical facilities with three state-of-the-art mass spectrometry instruments. Coupled with the extensive bio-imaging capacity at Coleraine, it creates the first multimodal biomolecular imaging platform on the island of Ireland.

Biological tissue

Multimodal biomolecular imaging (MBI) is an innovative approach which allows visualisation of the spatial distribution of molecules such as pharmaceutical compounds, biomarkers and metabolites in biological tissue sections. MBI has a broad scope of applications and is being successfully applied in biology, pathology, medicine, and pharmacology among others.

MBI can help to understand the link between the localisation of certain molecules and their function during pathogenesis, disease progression or treatment. It can accelerate efforts to provide more effective therapeutics for a broad range of diseases, such as cancer, neurodegenerative diseases or age-related conditions.

Researchers at Coleraine can now examine highly detailed images of biological tissues and reconstruct 3D biochemical tissue maps to better inform treatment for patients.

The enhanced facilities, coupled with Ulster University’s strong research profile in nutrition, diabetes, vision, cancer therapeutics, pharmaceutical sciences and agri-food research are also attracting world-leading experts to join the research teams in Coleraine. Five part-time high-profile international leaders recently strengthened the research teams in diabetes therapeutics, metabolic and cardiovascular medicine.

Among these international leaders are Prof Per Olof Berggren of the Karolinska Institutet and Prof Patrik Rorsman of the University of Oxford who are establishing world-pioneering research on the transplantation of insulin-releasing cells into the eye, a technique that offers an effective and functional future potential treatment of patients with diabetes as well as the opportunity for imaging and monitoring insulin-producing cells which normally can't be seen inside the body.

Nutrition team

Prof Carel Le Roux of University College Dublin and Prof Sumantra Ray of Cambridge University Hospitals are experts in obesity and cardiovascular health research, enhancing the internationally recognised nutrition team at Coleraine. Prof Guoliang Xu of the Shanghai Institutes of Biochemical Sciences is a world-leading expert in genomics and in the area of how hidden marks on our DNA which record environmental and parental inputs might affect how we respond to the threat of disease.

"We are proud of our research credentials and have already been judged as in the 'premier league' of universities with 100 per cent of research environment classed as world-leading/internationally excellent," says Prof Victor Gault, associate dean for research and impact in the faculty of life and health sciences.

He points out that biomedical sciences at Ulster University was ranked among the top five in UK universities for “research power” in the latest UK research excellence framework and first in the UK in the pharmacy and pharmacology subject area according to the Guardian League Table 2021.

“This latest additional laboratory space and advanced equipment together with enhanced imaging facilities will push us even further forward, and support drug discovery and food innovation development opportunities within areas such as nutrition, diabetes, cancer and vision,” he adds. “Ulster’s unique multimodal biomolecular imaging capacity has multiple applications that will ultimately impact patient’s lives and health: these are the real-world outcomes from our research excellence at Coleraine.”

‘Level of ambition’

Speaking during a recent visit to the Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, NI Minister for the Economy Gordon Lyons said: "My department has set out the bold and ambitious 10X vision for the Northern Ireland economy which will drive the next decade of innovation. This level of ambition reflects the scale of the challenges ahead, and the opportunity we have to make a generational change. To meet our ambition as a small advanced economy, we must focus on sectors and technologies in which NI already is, or can be, world-class, while ensuring the benefits of economic growth are felt across society.

“A partnership approach will be key to realising this ambition, collaborating with all our partners across academia, government and business. My department is therefore delighted to support Ulster University in developing its world-class research capability in the Biomedical Sciences Research Institute as a key delivery partner in helping us realise the ambitious targets set out in our Vision for a 10X Economy.”