A novel medical device technology to treat narrowed or obstructed blood vessels invented by University of Limerick researchers has been licensed to Galway-based medical devices company, Clada Medical.

Developed by biomedical engineers at the University of Limerick the device may enhance success rates in angioplasty procedures. It is estimated that over 1 million angioplasty procedures are undertaken worldwide each year and the value of products relating to this procedure is in the region of €500million.

Angioplasty is the technique of mechanically widening a narrowed or obstructed blood vessel. During this treatment particles of the fatty deposits can become dislodged and enter the blood stream which can block other arteries resulting in strokes or heart attacks. Embolic protection devices are often used to capture and remove the dislodged fatty deposits.

Dr Michael Walsh, principal investigator and lead inventor explains; “This device combines angioplasty balloon and embolic protection technologies allowing for continuous blood flow during the procedure. In practice, this means the angioplasty balloon can be left in a full inflated state in the artery for a longer period of time than is currently possible. This will increase the efficiency of the angioplasty procedure and offers significant potential as a platform for drug-devicecombinations.”

Clada Medical is an Irish-owned company that provides medical device design, research and development, testing and OEM manufacturing services from its Class 8 clean-room facilities in Galway. The company has particular expertise in balloon mould manufacturing and custom balloon/catheter design.

Ray Blowick, CEO of Clada Medical, said; “The application of the UL invention to perfusion balloon technology is very important for the future of our company. Our commercial strategy includes growing our company through the development and licencing of new technologies which will lead to new jobs and increased exports in this important sector for Irish industry”.

This research was funded by Enterprise Ireland and undertaken at the Centre for Applied Biomedical Engineering Research (CABER), based in the Materials and Surface Science Institute (MSSI), University of Limerick.

Photo shows Ray Blowick examining prototype device with Dr Walsh

Dr Peter Hoskins (University of Edinburgh), recently been appointed Adjunt Professor of Biomedical Imaging in the Department of Mechanical, Aeronautical and Biomedical Engineering, visited CABER on 3rd and 4th of April.

Dr Hoskins presented a lecture at the MSSI Research Forum entitled ”From Doppler Ultrasound to Elastography via Patient Specific Modelling”

The photograph shows Professor McGloughlin, Dr Hoskins and Dr Barry Doyle. Dr Doyle spent 18 months at Dr Hoskins lab at the Univeristy of Edinburgh as a Marie Curie Research Fellow from July 2010 until Dec 2011.

Professor Tim McGloughlin presented a paper entitled “VASCULAR DEVICE DESIGN AND THE ROLE OF CFD” at the recent conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
in Medicine and Biology in conjunction with the Seventh International Biofluid Mechanics Symposium March 25-30, 2012 Crowne Plaza Dead Sea, Ein Bokek, Israel

Dr David Hoey, recently appointed as Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical, Aeronautical and Biomedical Engineering at UL has joined CABER. Dr Hoey who has just completed a Marie Curie Fellowship at the Jacobs Laboratory at Columbia University and at the O’Brien Laboratory at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, completed his PhD at Trinity College, Dublin in 2008 under the supervision of Professor David Taylor. His current research includes investigations of mechanobiology in bone and studies on fracture mechanics of orthopaedic bone cement.

At the recent University of Limerick Conferring, PhD awards were conferred on Dr Maurice Donoghue ( Supervisor Dr Michael Walsh) and Dr Niall Davis (Supervisor Professor Tim McGloughlin). Dr David O’Reilly (Supervisor Dr Michael Walsh) was also awarded a PhD.