2004 IRISH SCIENTIST YEAR BOOK

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Queen's University Belfast
Denise Price
Queen's University Belfast – Medical Polymers Research Institute

The Medical Polymers Research Institute (MPRI) brings together researchers from the Schools of Chemical and Mechanical Engineering and the School of Pharmacy at Queen's University in Belfast to develop new materials for medical devices, such as plastic ventilator tubes, catheters, controlled drug release, implants and prostheses. The Institute enables the development of new bioactive materials and builds on the vast experience of world class scientists from both the engineering and scientific disciplines.

Medical plastics, or polymer biomaterials, as they are correctly termed, are used in a wide range of medical devices to treat patients in areas such as respiratory medicine, cardiology, orthopaedics, urology and ophthalmology. The Queen's team is researching a new generation of polymeric biomaterials to target current clinical problems such as rejection, blocked drainage tubes and infection.

The state-of-the-art research facility carries out leading edge, industrially relevant and market leading fundamental and applied research on medical polymers for both medical devices and advanced medical packaging systems.

Funding for the £4.3 million MPRI project came from the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation (PEACE II), administered by Invest Northern Ireland. The Institute complements the facilities and services offered by the Polymer Processing Research Centre, established at Queen's in 1996, thus achieving a critical mass of 20 members of staff, working in conjunction with 25 academics and 50 researchers, who are currently engaged in polymer related research in laboratories equipped with some £6 million worth of processing and analytical equipment for the benefit of local, national and international industry.

Contact: Medical Polymers Research Institute,
Queen's University Belfast, Ashby Building, Stranmillis Road, Belfast BT9 5AH.
For further information about the Medical Polymers Research Institute or the Polymer Processing Research Centre, contact Ms Denise Price;
Tel: 028 9027 4563 (from NI); 048 9027 4563 (from RoI); E-mail: [email protected] .