About Us
Since 2005, the Smooth Muscle Research Centre at DkIT has been uniquely centred on the cellular mechanisms that control smooth muscle function in health and disease, helping identify new therapeutic targets and pathways for treatment.
Why Smooth Muscle
Smooth muscle is a major constituent of the internal muscular organs of the body including the airways: urinary tract; arteries and veins; the stomach and intestines; erectile tissue. Abnormal regulation of contraction of smooth muscle underlies many disease states such as: asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), urinary incontinence, high blood pressure (due to excessive smooth muscle contraction in arterioles); intestinal motility disorders and erectile dysfunction.
Our Research Aims
The aim of our research is to elucidate the ionic basis of excitation and the way in which calcium levels are controlled in smooth muscle cells. The results of these studies have enabled us to better understand smooth muscle function and to identify therapeutic targets and design novel treatments for conditions such as COPD, overactive bladder and erectile dysfunction.
Also, our expertise in ion channel biology has broadened our scope to the study channel dysfunction in neurological disorders such as Physiological Tremor and Parkinson’s disease.
Research Facilities and Equipment
The SMRC laboratories (500m2) are equipped to study biological processes from the molecular level through to whole tissue. We utilise patch clamp electrophysiology, live cell confocal Ca2+ imaging, molecular biology, tissue culture, tension recording and medicinal chemistry.
We are very well equipped, with 8 patch-clamp rigs, 5 confocal microscopes, and 4 tension recording rigs. We have excellent facilities for cell culture, RT-PCR, qPCR, synthetic chemistry and everything required for molecular and mutagenesis studies. We have excellent animal facilities for housing and breeding normal and transgenic mice.
DkIT is a 3rd level educational establishment with a broad infrastructure in terms of library facilities, IT support and student support services to provide for PhD students.
Funding Success
The Smooth Muscle Research Centre Principal Investigators have attracted in excess of €15,000,000 in competitive funding from a variety of private companies, charities and organizations including Science Foundation Ireland, Health Research Board, Medical Research Council (UK), Diabetes UK, Research into Ageing, Action Medical Research (UK).
Most recently, we have received funding of €8.9M for the EU funded BREATH Project via Interreg VA https://www.breath-copd.org and an SFI Frontiers for Partnership €1M. In addition since 2019 we have received approximately €1.4M through HEA and IRC-funded PhD studentship and postdoctoral researcher fellowship schemes.
Commercialisation
Commercialisation of Research and Industrial Engagement. Our Industrial Collaborations include:
- Almac Discovery
- pHion Therapeutics
- Omnispirant
- Raptor Photonics
We also carriy out Cardiac Toxicity testing on hERG channels for a variety of drugs companies and have generated in excess of €250,000 in funding from this.
Research Centre Members
We have 5 core members within the Centre, alongside a diverse group of PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and research assistants.
Principal Investigators
Postgraduate Students
- Shubhendu Shirgadwar
- Neeraj Palakurthy Sai
- Zainab Baig
- Srijit Ghosh
- Mitchell Mercer
- Neha Gupta
- Denzel Thean
- Alex Mirceau
Postdoctoral Researchers
- Rabab e Kaneez
