Kurt Jan Pumares, is a PhD Researcher at Walton Institute, SETU, working on the EU Fet Open PRIME project, as part of his role within the Emerging Networks Laboratory (ENL) group. Within the PRIME project, Kurt is involved in developing a molecular communication simulation and modelling design tool, in particular creating a mathematical model for the intracellular signalling in epilepsy.
In late February 2025, Kurt travelled to Seoul, South Korea, to participate in the 13th International Conference on Bioinformatics and Computation Biology. The conference took place at Seoul National University from 27th February to 2nd March, and was attended by local and international researchers in the field of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and others related to this field of research. Seoul National University is a top ranked university in Korea, and home to the country’s premier research institutes.
At the conference, Kurt presented his research titled “Communication Analysis of tRNA-derived Fragment Uptake and Signalling in Neurons”, and share the following about his experience:
‘’Professors and fellow researchers had positive reactions to my oral presentation, and were particularly interested in the approach used in my paper on using molecular communications, an information theory and engineering-inspired approach, for a systems biology problem. Professors commented that using molecular communications in designing a delivery system of tRNAs in small microdomains like neurons actually made sense, especially in treating these biomarker molecules as information signals and analysing the model performance from a communications perspective.’’
‘’Participating at the conference also provided several networking opportunities, particularly with other young researchers working on optimal transport approaches, brain implants, and graph-based modelling. Well established senior researchers and professors in the field of computational biology, biomedical engineering, molecular biology, and neuroscience were also present at the conference, such as Prof. Ming Chen of Zhejian University, China, Prof. Ying Xu of Southern University of Science and Technology, China, Prof. Bin He of Carnegie Mellon University, USA, Assoc. Prof. Sung-Joon Park of The University of Tokyo, Japan, Assoc. Prof. Jin-Ku Lee of Seoul National University, South Korea and others.’’
About PRIME:
The PRIME project aims to prevent epileptic seizures by developing autonomous implantable living cell systems for the brain. Funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, PRIME has several multi-disciplinary European partners – led by Walton Institute at South East Technological University, EU FET OPEN PRIME project’s consortium of partners is made up of Tampere University Finland, Università degli Studi di Ferrara Italy, EPOS-IASIS Cyprus, Aarhus University Denmark, omiics Denmark and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) in Ireland.
