Dr Mark Hollywood, Principal Investigator with the Smooth Muscle Research Centre at Dundalk IT has been awarded the Silver Medal for his lecture on “Six, Drugs and RCK and Bowl” by the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland. His lecture focused on a novel group of novel drugs discovered by researchers in the Smooth Muscle Research Centre and how these molecules mediate their effects at a molecular level.  He detailed how these drugs, which are currently undergoing patent protection, could potentially be used to treat illnesses such as urinary incontinence and asthma.

The Conway Review Lecture is organised by the Section of Biomedical Science of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland (founded in 1882). It commemorates Edward J. Conway, F.R.S., one time Professor of Biochemistry in University College Dublin and is awarded annually to an outstanding scholar in the biomedical sciences.

Dr. Hollywood received the Academy Silver Medal and has been invited to publish a review based on his lecture in the Irish Journal of Medical Science. The first Conway Review Lecture was in 1977 and previous recipients of the award include Prof I.C. Roddie, Medical Faculty Dean, Queens University Belfast and Prof. Mark Ferguson, Head of Science Foundation of Ireland.

This research in the Smooth Muscle Centre was funded by Science Foundation Ireland, under their Research Frontiers Programme and Enterprise Ireland under their Applied Research Enhancement Scheme and Commercialisation Fund Technology Development.