News

Researchers at the Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick (GEMS) have been awarded €500,000 funding to develop a new percussion device that helps remove mucus from the airways and will greatly improve the quality of life for cystic fibrosis patients.

The annual Sylvester O'Halloran Surgical Scientific Symposium, named in his honour, was started in 1992 by the late Mr Peter Delaney.  The symposium is now conducted over three days and two locations, both GEMS on the UL campus and the CERC building in UHL.

Prof Colum Dunne - Member of Executive Management Committee
Director of Research, School of Medicine, University of Limerick

On 7th June, Prof Colum Dunne (SOM Director of Research) and colleagues in University Hospital Limerick and, separately, Dr Patrick O’Donnell (Research Fellow) with SOM co-investigators won Medals at the prestigious Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland (RAMI) Research Awards held in the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (Dublin).

In certain circumstances, and for a variety of reasons, patients choose to refuse medical treatment. [1] These decisions, in the absence of cognitive impairment, are typically respected by clinicians. Similarly, situations arise when medical professionals decline to care for a patient. [2] Such refusal is fraught, with arguments made that this represents abdication of duty. However, in practice, it is generally accepted that a doctor cannot be forced to treat a patient and, indeed, doctors’ freedom of choice is protected in international law. [3]

In January 2022, Professor Colum Dunne, School of Medicine Foundation Chair and Director of Research, presented to a global audience of more than 1,400 clinicians and scientists focused on diagnostic technology for COVID19 detection in detection in hospital settings. This webinar, organised by multination company Abbott, was based on published Dunne et al research, performed in UL/UHL, that used Point Of Care Testing (POCT) in the Emergency Department to identify patients with respiratory viruses before they entered the general admitted patient population.

A pioneering University of Limerick professor of surgery whose groundbreaking research led to the reclassification of an organ has published new evidence detailing the fundamental order of the abdomen.

J Calvin Coffey, Foundation Chair of Surgery at UL's School of Medicine in Ireland, whose major discovery led to the reclassification of the mesentery as a new organ in 2016, has published new research on the makeup and structure of the abdomen.

Dr. Alan Cusack (School of Law), Professor Gautam Gulati (School of Medicine & School of Law) and Professor Colum Dunne (School of Medicine) of the University of Limerick were recently invited to address a team of officials within the Department of Justice with regard to the terms of the draft the Garda Síochána (Powers) Bill.

There is a “direct link” between fatty tissue in the gut and Crohn’s disease, new Irish research suggests. Crohn's disease is a chronic, life-long inflammatory bowel condition that results in the gut becoming inflamed in patches of varying sizes and severity. About 40,000 people in Ireland suffer from Crohn's and Colitis — conditions collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease(IBD) — most of whom are diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 35.

Congratulations to SoloPep, winners of the 2021 University of Limerick Innovation Award. The Innovation Award is presented to a research team whose research has delivered outstanding impact through successful knowledge transfer to industry #ULInnovationAwards #ULCommercialisation. The Founders and Inventors of the SoloPep technology included the School of Medicine’s Professor Colum Dunne (CEO, SoloPep Ltd), Professor Deirdre McGrath (Head of School) and Professor Barry Linnane (Consultant Respiratory Paediatrician, UHL).

On 22nd December 2021, University of Limerick School of Medicine researchers were recipients of two prizes of the six prizes in the annual Health Service Executive (HSE) Open Access Awards (https://www.lenus.ie/hse/). In 2021, the Awards aimed to celebrate research performed and published while “Emerging from the Shadow of Covid-19”.