Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials
The Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials (NFB) is a research centre at the National University of Ireland, Galway. It brings together more than 60 biologists, chemists, engineers and clinicians and is led by Professor Abhay Pandit. NFB develops biomaterial platforms aimed at real medical problems in areas such as the spine and joints, heart and blood vessels, nerves, soft tissues and the eye. The goal is to create materials that can carry therapeutic agents—like drugs, genes, cells or growth factors—directly to specific parts of the body.
NFB started in 2003 and joined a Strategic Research Cluster in 2007 with funding from Science Foundation Ireland to build collaborations with universities and industry partners, nationally and internationally. The centre works with a wide range of materials, including natural polymers (like collagen and hyaluronic acid), synthetic polymers (such as PEG and PLGA), and metals and ceramics. Researchers use nanotechnology and microfabrication to make complex scaffolds that give cells cues to grow in the right way. They have advanced facilities to test the properties of these biomaterials, from the overall structure to how they interact with cells and tissues.
Key products of NFB include scaffolds with instructive physical signals, functional nanoparticles, hyper-branched polymers, and cell-sheet technologies. The work is focused on clinical targets, using biomaterials to address major medical problems. For example, intervertebral disc degeneration can cause chronic neck and back pain. NFB is exploring an injectable, functionalised hydrogel that releases genes to boost the body’s own matrix components, helping restore disc mechanics and promoting healing when injected into the spine.
Tendon injuries are common and costly. NFB has developed collagen-based nano-textured scaffolds that mimic natural tissue to support repair and is studying how adding proteoglycans and other molecules can improve regeneration. For wounds, NFB is creating scaffold-based approaches to speed healing and, in diabetic patients, using gene-delivery strategies to improve wound repair. They are also working on genetic approaches to skin diseases like recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB) and on reducing scar formation with drug-loaded implants.
In soft tissue and hernia repair, NFB develops nano-fibrous meshes with defined surface textures and drug-loading capabilities to improve healing and reduce complications. For the eye, they are creating scaffolds and scaffold-free methods to support cornea regeneration, aiming to reduce immune rejection and shortages of donor tissue. In the nervous system, researchers are pursuing new ways to repair peripheral nerves and to treat spinal cord injuries by combining biomaterials with techniques from tissue engineering.
Chronic pain and neurological diseases are also study areas. NFB is developing drug-delivery systems to target pain medications to specific body sites and exploring polymer-based gene therapies to protect brain and nerve cells in diseases like Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. In cardiovascular research, the group is looking at gene and stem cell therapies delivered through biomaterials to help after heart attacks or in limb ischemia, with a focus on therapies that are more effective and easier to control.
A core aim is to translate lab work into real solutions. While most work is done in the university setting, NFB collaborates with medical device makers, pharmaceutical companies and biotech firms to move ideas toward use in clinics and industry. Services offered to industry include developing unique biomaterial platforms, improving existing materials, creating custom biomaterials, solving biomaterials problems in devices, and conducting in vitro and in vivo tests, including drug delivery studies. Several biomaterial platforms are available for licensing.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:15 (CET).