March 2017 CÚRAM DOCTORAL CANDIDATE DILIP THOMAS TAKES FIRST PLACE AT THE ANNUAL JOURNAL OF WOUND CARE AWARDS IN LONDON
Dilip Thomas, Doctoral Candidate at the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Research in Medical Devices (CÚRAM) at NUI Galway, has just been awarded first place in the category of the Best Preclinical Study at the Journal of Wound Care Awards 2017.
The Awards recognise the hard work done by health care professionals in all fields of wound care, to benchmark standards within wound care and to highlight the great contribution that nurses, clinicians, scientists, researchers and academics make to the development of wound-care research and practice.
Winners are chosen by a prominent panel of expert judges that is representative of the diversity of disciplines and organisations that make up the sector. The judges assess each entry according to its objectives and available resources and budget. Laboratory studies shortlisted for the Best Preclinical Study award represent a vital first step in evaluating wound care interventions and form the base of the evidence pyramid on which all other research is built. This category recognises the efforts of those researchers who have provided strong, evidence-based studies in wound care.
Congratulating Dilip on his award, Prof Abhay Pandit, Scientific Director of CÚRAM said; “I’m delighted to see our researchers recognised for their hard work. Wound healing is an important area of research at CÚRAM and I’d like to congratulate Dilip on his project and the development of new knowledge in this area”.
The research for which Dilip was awarded focussed on the development of a microgel-based cell delivery device for the treatment of Critical Limb Ischemia. The research adds to the current knowledge in cell encapsulation strategies by highlighting the preconditioning or priming capacity of biomaterials through cell-cell and cell-material interactions. One of the significant and clinically attractive aspects of the preclinical study was the use of a low-cell dose (up to 20 times lower that pre-clinical gold standard) in the microgels for tissue repair. Hence as a therapy, microgels would not only help faster tissue repair but also provide treatment for more patients.
‘I’m delighted to receive the award for Best Preclinical Study’ said Dilip, ‘it definitely serves to boost confidence in my work and to motivate further studies. It’s always nice to have your achievements recognised, particularly as I finalise my PhD this year’
Dilip received a BSc Biotechnology, University of Mumbai, India and a MSc Biochemical Engineering, University College London, UK. His research interests include the development of novel functionalised biomaterials, microencapsulation and transplantation of progenitor cells to promote angiogenesis in ischemic animal models. He is currently working under the supervision of Prof. Abhay Pandit and Prof. Timothy O'Brien at CÚRAM in NUI Galway.
In 2015 Dilip was awarded the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) fellowship to further his research through training in MALDI imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI-IMS) at Marchetti-Deschmann’s analytical laboratory, Technical University Vienna and in 2016 he was elected to the position of Chair-Elect for the EU Student and Young Investigator section (SYIS) of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS).
JWC award finalists were invited to attend an evening gala dinner and awards ceremony on Friday 3rd March 2017 at The Banking Hall in London. The full shortlist of finalists for the awards is available at www.jwcawards.com/shortlist-2017