ANGIOPLASTY DEVICE FOR FATTY DEPOSITS:MANY REALLY good ideas manage to attract the question, "Why didn't someone think of that before?" Dr Michael Walsh of University of Limerick delivered just such an idea, so good that it is already licensed out to a company.
Walsh manages the Centre for Applied Biomedical Engineering Research within UL’s Materials and Surface Science Institute. He has come up with a wholly new kind of balloon angioplasty device with a design that is unique as far as he can tell.
Angioplasty is a way to deal with fatty deposits that build up in blood vessels and restrict the free flow of blood. It involves manoeuvring a long flat balloon to the restriction and then inflating it, therefore spreading open the blood vessel and allowing more blood to flow.
There are drawbacks, Walsh explains. Once opened out, the balloon fully blocks the vessel so inflation can only last for short periods. And sometimes the fatty deposits pushed back by the balloon can dislodge, entering the bloodstream to cause blockages elsewhere.
Using funding from Enterprise Ireland he developed a new design, a tube-shaped balloon that expands but which has an open channel through the centre. It also incorporates a filter to trap any deposits that break free during the procedure.
"We are still working on the device," he said, even though the initial design has been licensed by Clada Medical, an Irish-owned medical device design, research and development company. "As far as we know we are the only ones with this kind of balloon and filter combination," Walsh said. - DICK AHLSTROM
Simulating spoken exam
DUBLIN-BASED elearning company RendezVu has been shortlisted for a prestigious international award for its ExamSpeak product, which is aimed at those learning English.
The company is competing in the ELTons, which are run by the British Council and recognise innovation in English language teaching (ELT). RendezVu is the only Irish company among the 36 companies shortlisted. It will be competing in the Digital Innovation category.
RendezVu is a high-potential start-up founded in 2008 by Paul Groarke, who has over 20 years’ experience in the tech sector. The company is based at Nova, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at UCD.
ExamSpeak is an English practice environment which prepares students for the Cambridge KET (Key English Test) speaking test by simulating the exam in real-time. It helps learners to build confidence by practising as often as they like in exam conditions. – OLIVE KEOGH
