We are delighted to announce that Dr Irene Lara- Sáez was awarded SFI industrial fellowship which will be hosted by Blafar Ltd. to enhance industry-academia collaborations.

Dr Lara-Sáez has developed expertise in designing novel approaches to introduce nucleic acids into cells and tissues to treat genetic skin diseases within Prof Wenxin Wang’s group in the Charles Institute at UCD during the last 3 years as a post-doctoral researcher. In this one-year SFI Industrial Fellowship project, Dr Lara- Sáez will work with Blafar Ltd., a biopolymer specialized SME, to develop a polymeric carrier to introduce a CRISPR editing system into cells and tissues in a safe and efficient manner for repairing the disease-causing mutations and the restoration of normal functioning type VII collagen for Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB).