NUI Galway and the Mayo Clinic in the US plan to collaborate on clinical trials using regenerative medicine, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two institutes.
The joint research projects will focus on a number of key strategic areas, including adult stem-cell therapy, gene therapy, biomaterials and biomedical engineering, the two institutes have said.
The Mayo Clinic and NUIG's Regenerative Medicine Institute have worked closely with each other for a number of years.
Both have licensed cell manufacturing facilities, and student and staff exchange programmes between Galway and the US will continue.
Welcoming the agreement, NUIG president Dr Jim Browne has noted that his university has Ireland's only facility licensed to produce stem cells for human use.
A new clinical and translational research facility for conducting clinical trials with patients will be complete in early 2015, he said.
