DCU projects awarded funding under new €5.5 million COVID-19 Rapid Response Research and Innovation Programme

Six DCU projects have been successful under a new €5.5 million Covid-19 Rapid Response Research and Innovation Programme announced today by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, TD.

In total 41 projects have been announced as part of the programme, established by Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, the Health Research Board and Irish Research Council, to respond to the immediate and pressing needs of society arising from the pandemic. 

The projects cover a wide range of areas including

•How to reduce damage to the skin on the face from PPE
•How we can decontaminate and provide face masks for reuse
•How to detect novel airborne surveillance of SARS-CoV2 in healthcare and airport environments
•The development of plastic packaging and film resistant to Covid-19
•Early detection of secondary waves of COVID‐19 infection

The six DCU projects are led by Dr Jane Suiter (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences) (Director of FuJo), Dr Irina Tal (Faculty of Engineering and Computing), Professor Paul Cahill (Faculty of Science and Health), Dr Emmanuel Ekoi (Faculty of Engineering and Computing), Professor Stephen Daniels (Faculty of Engineering and Computing) and Dr Paul Leonard (Faculty of Science and Health). 

It is also of note that three of the DCU researchers announced today as part of the new programme are also spearheading projects under DCU’s Covid-19 Research and Innovation hub which was launched in May of this year with the support of DCU Educational Trust in response to the global pandemic. 

Dr Jane Suiter, Prof Stephen Daniels and Dr Paul Leonard are all leading projects to address the challenge of Covid-19 with a view to developing solutions that can be implemented within a three to six months time frame. In addition, the Director of the DCU Covid-19 R&I Hub, Prof Christine Loscher is also collaborating with Professor Paul Cahill as part of  his project under the Rapid Response Research and Innovation Programme.

A summary of the new DCU projects under the Covid-19 Rapid Response Research and Innovation Programme

COVID-19: Citizens get their say 
Lead Researcher: Dr Jane Suiter

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound effect on Ireland’s citizens.

The same citizens also need to play a key role in slowing the spread of the virus. SFI will support the development of the COVID-19 Irish Citizens’ Online Forum, a large-scale nationwide debate in Ireland between policymakers, government, experts and citizens to identify possible future steps to be taken during and after the COVID-19 crisis.

The Forum will take place through an online platform called FUSE, delivered by the SFI ADAPT Research Centre. It will allow the open and transparent exchange of ideas, a meaningful dialogue and discussion of experiences. The Forum will also act as a source of expert information and will work in partnership with RTÉ and Science Week for greater public awareness and engagement with the issues.

How do people in Ireland feel about privacy and tracking during COVID-19? 
Lead Researcher: Dr Irina Tal

One way to contain the spread of COVID-19 is to quickly identify infected people and others they may have exposed to the virus. This is possible through technology such as tracking apps, but that approach can raise public concern about privacy. 

SFI will fund a new interdisciplinary project, called PRIVATT  to get a deeper understanding of this issue. The research team includes computer scientists and lawyers from four educational institutions: Dublin City University, Trinity College Dublin, National College of Ireland and Middlesex University London, and two research centres: Lero, the SFI Research Centre for Software and ADAPT, the SFI Research Centre for Digital Media Technology.

The research  will use machine learning to analyse the sentiment on Irish social media about privacy during COVID-19, and will explore how  existing technological solutions, including those that have been implemented in other countries, can better protect our fundamental rights and be accepted by the Irish population. 

Delivering a decoy to divert the immune storm in COVID-19
Lead Researcher: Professor Paul Cahill

When a person is seriously ill with COVID-19, it can be due to their immune system overreacting to the presence of the virus and damaging the tissues of the lung and blood vessels. The virus gets into these tissues by attaching its spike protein to a molecule on the outside of cells called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2).

A new project funded by SFI is developing a way to deliver ‘decoy’ ACE-2 into the lungs to bind the virus and keep it from triggering an immune over-reaction and damaging sensitive cells.

The research, led by Dublin City University, will measure how small biological packages called extracellular vesicles can deliver ACE-2 into lungs and bind to COVID-19 virus spike proteins, along with other molecules to encourage a more balanced immune response. If successful, this could offer a powerful future treatment for patients in the intensive care unit with COVID-19.

Surface engineering for safer PPE
Lead Researcher: Dr Emmanuel Ekoi

One way that the COVID-19 virus can spread is when a person makes contact with a contaminated surface. The outer surface of PPE, or personal protective equipment, has a high risk of being contaminated with the virus, especially in healthcare environments where people with COVID-19 are being cared for.

A project at I-Form, the SFI Research Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, is looking to better understand the influence of surfaces and their texture on the COVID-19 virus, and to identify materials and surfaces that are less hospitable for virus particles. The aim is to identify materials, surfaces or outer coatings for PPE that destroy the virus on contact or reduce the time that it remains able to infect others. 

Something’s in the air – Irish IoT device to continuously monitor air for COVID-19 virus
Lead Researcher: Professor Stephen Daniels

The COVID-19 virus can travel between nearby people in the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes or even talks loudly or sings. The droplets or aerosols that these activities produce can remain in the air for a period of time, and this is a potential source of infection in busy places with lots of people moving around, such as clinics.

SFI is supporting research lead by DCU with partners from the RCSI, Teagasc, University College Dublin and NuWave Sensors, an Irish company based at DCU Alpha, to repurpose NuWave's airborne pathogen sensor technology so that it can continuously monitor the air for the  presence of the COVID-19 virus.

By identifying when the virus is in the air, the system could provide an early warning about contaminated areas and the need to minimise the presence of staff and patients and enable decontamination before reopening. 

Testing the tests for COVID-19 virus antibodies in Ireland 
Lead Researcher: Dr Paul Leonard

One sign that a person has been exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 is that their body has made antibodies to the virus. Studies have shown that around 40% of COVID-19 patients make these antibodies within weeks of exposure to the virus.

Antibody tests or assays can detect the presence of these antibodies in samples of blood (serum), and so can be used to tell us more about the numbers of people who have reacted to the virus. However, it’s important that the tests can detect antibodies specifically, and don’t give readings for other, similar antibodies.

SFI is supporting Dublin City University to develop a hub to validate commercially available assays for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, and to monitor the performance of tests as they are used to gather information about SARS-CoV-2 exposure in Ireland.   

Today’s announcement builds on SFI’s previous investment of €8 million across 17 COVID-19 research and innovation projects.  All of the projects funded have been internationally peer reviewed at the assessment stage.