Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre (ABC), an Enterprise Ireland funded Technology Gateway, has been awarded in excess of €1 million for new equipment to help support Irish companies. Shannon ABC is a collaboration between Institute of Technology Tralee and Limerick Institute of Technology, and works with companies in the Life Sciences, Food and Biotech sectors.

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD announced the successful applicants of the Capital Equipment Fund administered by Enterprise Ireland through the Technology Gateway Network Programme. There were 43 successful applicants from the Institutes of Technology (IoT) and TU Dublin to the €6 million Technology Gateway Network Programme’s capital fund. Shannon ABC, which primarily focuses on the Life Sciences, Food and Biotechnology sectors, had 12 successful applicants to the capital fund.

Vice President for Research, Development and External Engagement, Brid McElligott commented, ‘Securing one-sixth of the total available capital fund is a fantastic achievement for the team at Shannon ABC. This funding will be put to excellent use in the support of Irish companies.’

Shannon ABC will use this funding to secure equipment that will assist in its expansion of R&D support for a range of sectors including food, cosmetic, nutraceutical, marine, biotechnology, biopharmaceutical, environmental and healthcare.

Centre Manager for Shannon ABC, Dr Tim Yeomans said of the funding, ‘We are delighted with this substantial funding award, this new equipment will significantly enhance our research capabilities and provide key support for Irish companies. The availability of new start of the art equipment will provide a significant resource for Irish companies to engage with the IT Tralee and Limerick IT.”

The equipment awarded includes:

• Single Use Bioreactor
• High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography
• Inductively Coupled Plasma – Mass Spectrometer
• Fermentation Suite
• Preparative Chromatography
• Fluorescence Microscope
• Gel Imaging System
• Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
• Freeze Dryer
• Bomb Calorimeter
• Plant Growth Chamber
• Autoclave

The new State of the Art Equipment will facilitate:

• More companies engaging in collaborative R&D with IoT researchers
• Enhanced technology validation and testing capabilities
• Test bed generation
• Enhanced training potential for key industry staff on emerging technologies

Since 2014, Shannon ABC has partnered with over 100 Irish companies, delivering in excess of 180 projects to a value of €2.5 million, as well as securing €12.5 million in core research funding. One such company, Lifes2Good, an Irish SME in the health and beauty sector, connected with Shannon ABC to research its hair-growth product, Viviscal. Viviscal were later acquired by Church & Dwight (a division of the Arm & Hammer Group in the US) in a deal worth €150m. This has opened up discussions between Arm & Hammer and Shannon ABC to engage in further research projects. Enterprise Ireland supported the initial research knowledge transfer.

For more information on Shannon ABC, please contact tim.yeomans@staff.ittralee.ie