Bruno Godinho, Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience and School of Pharmacy, UCC, was the winner of the ‘Science for All’ competition last night.

Topics such as developing new treatments for depression and Huntington’s Disease, diagnosis of cancer, chronic inflammation and renewable energy were presented at the competition to find the PhD student who could explain their work the most clearly and in the most interesting way.

Bruno, who is from Portugal, spoke about his research into Huntington’s Disease, "Hunting Disease Messages in the Brain", using silent messenger RNA to treat the disease. Huntington's Disease is a rare disorder that causes death of nerve cells within the brain. The disease is caused by a defect in a gene called Huntingtin (HTT) and as a result a toxic HTT protein builds up within the brain. The disease mainly affects middle-aged individuals and the symptoms are: rapid involuntary muscle movements, loss of memory, anxiety and depression. In addition, an affected individual has a 50% chance of transmitting the disease to their children and unfortunately there is no prevention or cure available.

The other contestants were:

• Nazmul Hossain, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, UCC and Tyndall National Institute “Nature Inspired Optical Biosensor for Better Future Diagnosis” (better diagnosis of cancers);
• Anna Iwaszuk, Department of Chemistry, UCC and Tyndall National Institute, “New ‘energy drink’ for Earth citizen – Hydrogen” designing (new catalysts for renewable energy);
• Fionn O’Brien, Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre and School of Pharmacy, UCC “A new approach to overcome the barrier to successful treatment of depression?” (getting drugs across blood brain barrier); and
• Christine O’Carroll, Department of Biochemistry and Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, UCC “Macrophages: Friend or Foe?”(understanding chronic inflammation).

The competition was jointly organised by the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science and the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, UCC. This year’s competition was sponsored by UCC, the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre and the Tyndall National Institute.

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