Emerging Technologies Conference Opens

* M E D I A  A D V I S O R Y *

UMass Lowell, Irish Universities Bring Together Top Researchers, Leading Businesses

Monday, Oct. 19 and Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

WHAT:  UMass Lowell, in partnership with Queen’s University of Belfast and Dublin City University, will host the first U.S./Ireland Emerging Technologies Conference on Monday, Oct. 19 and Tuesday, Oct. 20.

The international conference will feature experts from the three universities presenting on new research in biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, nanotechnology and more. Representatives of companies leading the way in those fields will exhibit products and services, and speak about how new technologies are being used in real-world manufacturing and product development.

The conference opens Monday at 8:30 a.m. with introductions and remarks by Robert Tamarin, UMass Lowell’s dean of science and math, Prof. Carl Lawton, head of the Massachusetts BioManufacturing Center, and representatives of Queen’s University and Dublin City University. Exhibitors, including companies and researchers, will also be on hand.

The conference’s programs will delve into biopharmaceuticals and bioprocessing, medical devices, nanomanufacturing for biomedicine and nano/biosensors.  Topics within those areas will run the gamut from new biomaterials to repair bones and using living cells in sensors to monitor environmental conditions to innovation in medical diagnostics and the challenges of clinical trials.

Each of the three universities hosts research centers that bring together resources and knowledge from the public and private sectors, including Dublin City University’s Biomedical Diagnostics Institute, Queen’s University’s Polymers Research Center and UMass Lowell’s Massachusetts BioManufacturing Center, NSF Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing and Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center (M2D2). Those centers, along with Ireland’s Center for BioAnalytical Sciences, will be represented at the conference. Presenters are also scheduled to include faculty from UMass Medical School and Northeastern University.

A full list of programs and presenters is available at  www.uml.edu/emergingtech.

WHERE:   UMass Lowell Inn and Conference Center, 50 Warren St., Lowell. Contact the Office of Public Affairs for directions and parking information.