RCSI Tissue Engineering Research Group (TERG)

The RCSI Tissue Engineering Research Group (TERG), 2017's Irish Research Laboratory of the Year, is a large multidisciplinary research group focused on the development of cell and advanced biomaterial-based strategies for the repair and regeneration of various tissues. Based in the Dept. of Anatomy, we also work closely with the School of Pharmacy and Molecular & Cellular Therapeutics (MCT) Departments in RCSI and with the Centre for Bioengineering (TCBE) in Trinity College Dublin. TERG is also part of the €58million Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research (AMBER) Centre which is focused on developing advanced next generation materials and medical devices in partnership with industry. Specifically, our research focuses on the development of natural polymer (such as collagen) scaffold-based therapeutics for tissue engineering with target applications in bone, cartilage, skin, cardiovascular, corneal, respiratory and neural tissues. A major focus of ongoing research has been to functionalise these scaffolds for use as delivery systems for biomolecules with a particular interest in the delivery of nucleic acids (pDNA, siRNA and miRNA) to enhance their therapeutic potential. We also investigate the use of these scaffolds as advanced 3D pathophysiology in vitro systems for drug development and for studying cellular crosstalk in co-cultures and understanding disease states in cancer, angiogenesis, immunology & infection. In addition, we study the response of living cells to mechanical stimuli (mechanobiology) and investigate how biophysical stimuli can regulate stem cell differentiation.