Research
The Biosciences Development will copper-fasten Trinity’s place as a leading international scientific university. We have some truly world-class researchers and research activities in biosciences. They are motivated by a desire to understand disease processes and to interrogate these processes in a way that can translate to a health/societal benefit. TCD bioscience researchers have delivered the technologies that underpinned the nicotine patch, they’ve identified new genes for major diseases such as childhood eczema, they’ve discovered why some people are more prone to malaria or lung cancer, and they’ve pushed the boundaries of our understanding of how diseases work – Alzheimer’s, cancer, arthritis. Our international rankings show our outputs are amongst the best in the world.
Recent Research Outputs
Research leaders
Our academic leaders demonstrate excellence in scholarship by conducting groundbreaking biosciences research and publishing regularly in peer-reviewed journals.
Prof. Luke O'Neill Toll-Like Receptors
Prof. Kingston Mills Regulating the Immune System
Prof. Colm O’Moráin Bowel Cancer Research
Prof. Marek Radomski Nano Small is Beautiful
Dr. Ross McManus, Prof. Con Feighery, Prof. Dermot Kelleher New Genes for Coeliac Disease
Prof. Padraic Fallon Potential for New Therapies in the Treatment of Eczema
Prof. Alan Irvine The Eczema Gene
Prof. Ian Robertson Mind to Molecule as a Basis for New Treatments for Brain Disorders
Prof. Andrew Bowie Understanding How the Body Detects Viruses
Prof. Mathias Senge From Structure and Conformation to New Drugs
Dr. David Lloyd Molecular Design for New Therapeutics
Prof. Marina Lynch Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Lipitor
Dr. Kevin Mitchell, Dr. Pablo Labrador, Prof. Mani Ramaswami How Genes Control Brain Circuits and Behaviour
Prof. Shane O’Mara How Does the Brain Make Memories?
Prof. Declan McLoughlin Improving the Treatment and Diagnosis of Depression
Prof. Richard Reilly Neural Engineering
Prof. Seamus Martin Exploiting Cell Suicide for Cancer Therapy
Prof. Michael Gill Schizophrenia and Autism Findings
Dr. Aiden Corvin Genetics of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder
Prof. Rose Anne Kenny The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA)
Prof. Joseph Keane A New Test for Lung Cancer
Prof. Orla Hardiman Motor Neurone Disease Research
Dr. Anne Molloy Low levels of Vitamin B12 Increase Risk of Spina Bifida
Dr. James O’ Donnell New Findings Shed Light on Cause of Cerebral
Dr. Lorraine O’Driscoll Cancer Biomarkers and New Therapeutic Targets
Toll-Like Receptors
Imagine if there was a way to turn off the damaging inflammation that gives rise to diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, MS or inflammatory bowel disease? Prof. Luke O'Neill's research concerns Toll-like receptors, key drivers of the inflammatory process which if blocked might yield novel therapies for these diseases. He has discovered key components in the mechanism of how Toll-Like Receptors cause inflammation, which might be amenable to targeting. He has also found important endogenous negative regulators, which if boosted might dampen inflammation. His work has been published in the leading journals, including ‘Nature Immunology’, ‘Science’, ‘Nature Medicine’ and ‘Nature Genetics’.
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Regulating the Immune System
Our immune system uses blood cells, called T cells, to protect us against infection and cancer. T cells normally only respond to foreign microbes, but occasional the immune system looses control and T cells can attack our own tissues, leading to autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. T cells called regulatory T cells (Treg cells) can turn of these damaging T cells, but if the Treg cells dominate they can inhibit the protective T cells and we become more susceptible to infection and cancer. Studies in the laboratory of Prof. Kingston Mills have defined the molecules that drive the damaging (pathogenic) T cells and have discovered approaches for turning off these cells as a therapeutic approach for autoimmune diseases. Conversely, attenuating Treg cells have proved to be an effective in the development of a new immunotherapeutic for cancer. Intellectual property generated from these projects has been licensed to our start-up campus company, Opsona Therapeutics, which plans to move into clinical trials. Kingston Mills is also Director of The Immunology Research Centre at TCD, an academic-industry partnership funded by Science Foundation Ireland. This €10m five-year research programme is focused on the discovery and function of novel modulators of innate immunity and involves nine labs, eight of them are from TCD Schools of Biochemistry & Immunology, Medicine and Genetics & Microbiology. The projects will deliver new adjuvants for vaccines against infection, immunotherapeutics against cancer and anti-inflammatory agents against autoimmune diseases.
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Bowel Cancer Research
Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy and the second largest cause of cancer related death in Europe. It is the third most common cancer in Ireland. Approximately 1 in 24 people in Ireland will develop bowel cancer during their lifetime and more than 900 people die from colorectal cancer each year. Can this burden be decreased by early detection and cure of precancerous lesions in Irish patients using existing resources? This is the key question which was answered with an emphatic yes by a multi-disciplinary team of clinical and scientific researchers from the TCD department of Clinical Medicine, led by Prof. Colm O’Moráin, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at TCD and Consultant Gastroenterologist at the Adelaide and Meath Hospital incorporating the National Children’s Hospital, Tallaght (AMNCH). The annual report of the first year of screening at AMNCH revealed at least 50 lives were saved by this research project in a 12-month period. This project involves using a highly sensitive and specific faecal immunohistochemical screening technique to carefully identify those who would benefit from a colonoscopy to screen for cancers. Prof. O’Moráin has had a long and distinguished career in gastroenterology and is a world leader and opinion former in the fields of inflammatory bowel disease, helicobacter pylori and the prevention of digestive cancers. As well as his research role, Prof. O’Moráin remains a highly active clinician in gastroenterology and general internal medicine and combines these roles with a strong commitment to teaching and mentoring at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
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Nano Small is Beautiful
Prof. Marek Radomski has PhD in pharmacology from College of Medicine of Jagiellonski University in Krakow, Poland. Prof. Radomski’s research is now focused on nanomedicine with special emphasis on nanopharmacology and nanotoxicology of nanoparticles. He is a highly-cited pharmacologist (www.isihighlycited.com, more than 15,000 citations to date) who worked both in academia and pharmaceutical industry in Poland (Jagiellonski University in Krakow and Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw), UK (Wellcome Research Laboratories in Beckenham), Spain (Lacer SA in Barcelona), Canada (University of Alberta in Edmonton) and USA (University of Texas in Houston). Prof. Radomski has contributed to undergraduate teaching of medical, dentistry, nursing and pharmacy students in Europe, Canada and USA. He joined the School of Pharmacy of Trinity College Dublin in 2006 as Professor and Chair of Pharmacology. He was then Director of Research in School of Pharmacy and is currently Head of School and Pro-Dean Faculty of Health Sciences Trinity College Dublin.
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New Genes for Coeliac Disease
Coeliac disease is a condition in which the lining of the small intestine becomes damaged by exposure to dietary wheat and related cereals. Ireland has one of the highest incidences in the world. New studies involving the joint efforts of researchers in the UK, the Netherlands and Trinity College Dublin have resulted in the identification of 8 new regions of the genome which are linked to susceptibility to coeliac disease development. The first of these to be discovered was the IL2 / IL21 region which was the first identification of a non-MHC gene for this disease and was published in the prestigious journal 'Nature Genetics 2007'. Follow-on studies have revealed a further 7 susceptibility genes also published in 'Nature Genetics 2008'. Trinity researchers led by Dr. Ross McManus with Prof. Con Feighery, Prof. Dermot Kelleher and other Irish researchers contributed to this work which now permits new insights into the mechanism of the disease.
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Potential for New Therapies in the Treatment of Eczema
An international collaboration between TCD scientists and researchers in Scotland and Japan has developed a new animal model that reproduces a major genetic cause of human eczema. The TCD team was led by Professor Padraic Fallon (pictured), Science Foundation Ireland Stokes Professor of Translational Immunology at TCD’s Institute of Molecular Medicine and School of Medicine. This new discovery, which has the potential of assisting the development of new therapies in the treatment of the disease, was published in ‘Nature Genetics’ (2009). Previous groundbreaking work by key collaborators in the study Prof. Irwin McLean, University of Dundee, and Prof. lan Irvine, Our Lady’s Children Hospital Crumlin and TCD) on Irish children with eczema, had identified that that up to one in two cases of severe eczema in children is associated with mutations in a gene called filaggrin. In this new study the collaborative team has identified an identical genetic mutation mechanism (technically known as a frame-shift mutation) in the mouse strain as was previously identified in children with eczema. Detailed immunological studies on the mouse revealed that this defect in the filaggrin gene leads to a loss of barrier integrity, making the skin more permeable to allergens that eventually leads to the induction of allergic skin inflammation, comparable to that seen in human eczema and related allergic diseases.
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The Eczema Gene
In 2007 'Nature Genetics' Paediatric Dermatologist and TCD Associate Professor of Dermatology, Prof. Alan Irvine, in conjunction with Prof. Irwin McLean of the University of Dundee’s College of Medicine, published findings on the genetic mutations associated with childhood eczema, providing a potential major breakthrough in the treatment of eczema. "Having a filaggrin mutation confers a very high risk of eczema – a 45% chance with one filaggrin mutation and a 90% chance with two filaggrin mutation," commented Prof. Irvine. "This new research now provides a target for direct intervention and the development of new therapeutic approaches."
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Mind to Molecule as a Basis for New Treatments for Brain Disorders
The major health challenge of this century arises from disorders of the brain and mind such as dementia, schizophrenia, depression, autism and many others. All these disorders involve a complex and two way interplay genetic, cellular, psychological and social factors, the challenge is to build models that allow these different levels to ‘talk’ to each other scientifically. Researchers led by Prof. Ian Robertson of School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, in collaboration with Neuropsychiatric Genetics colleagues, have linked very specific cognitive and brain functions – for instance attention and associated absent-minded errors - to particular genes (e.g. DBH) that are known to affect the availability of key chemical messengers in the brain (e.g. noradrenaline). They have shown that some of these cognitive tests are important predictors of which patients will respond to pharmaceutical treatments (e.g. methylphenidate for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Furthermore they have developed training methods for some of these symptoms that produce temporary improvements in function that mimic the brain and cognitive effects of pharmaceutical agents. This leads to the very real possibility of developing new treatments that combine drug and mental training-therapy for a whole range of disorders of mind and brain. The group has major collaborations with Bioengineering colleagues so as to use new technologies for delivering such therapies. Trinity College is the leader internationally in this approach and has a particular strength when applied to the problems of ageing, where there are very close collaborations with colleagues in Medical Gerontology and Psychiatry. The Robertson group has published in the leading journals including ‘Nature’, ‘Journal of Neuroscience’, ‘Brain’, ‘Biological Psychiatry’, ‘American Journal of Medical Genetics’, ‘Molecular Psychiatry’ and others.
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Understanding How the Body Detects Viruses
Prof. Andrew Bowie leads a research team in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology whose goal is to understand the early events that occur in cells after viral infection. Cells detect viruses using receptors, leading to the activation of signalling pathways that alter gene expression in order to eliminate the virus. At the same time, viruses fight back, with strategies to evade and manipulate the cellular detection systems. Prof. Bowie’s team seeks to uncover these viral strategies in order to more fully understand the host pathways they target. This will eventually lead to the development of therapeutics to manipulate these pathways during disease. Their discoveries have been published in leading international journals such as ‘Nature Immunology’,’ The Journal of Experimental Medicine’ and ‘The EMBO Journal’.
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From Structure and Conformation to New Drugs
The basic shape and reactivity of molecules can be fine-tuned and chemically engineered to yield clinically active molecules and novel drugs. Focussing of porphyrins as the pigments of life (red color in blood and the green color of plants) the Science Foundation Ireland Tetrapyrrole Laboratory under the leadership of Prof. Mathias Senge has developing new synthetic methods for tailor made compounds, uses these for novel treatments of gastrointestinal cancer and as optically active sensors and smart materials for artificial photosynthesis. Preclinical work focuses on the use of photodynamic therapy as a non-invasive and side effect free cancer treatment modality. Recent work has been published in high impact journals such as ‘The Journal of Organic Chemistry, ‘Advanced Materials’, ‘Chemical Communications’ and ‘Angewandte Chemie’.
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Molecular Design for New Therapeutics
Dr. David Lloyd is a senior lecturer in the School of Biochemistry & Immunology. Dr. Lloyd joined TCD from the pharmaceutical industry in 2004 to establish the Molecular Design Group (MDG) as the Hitachi Lecturer in Advanced Computing. The MDG is focused on the application of computer-aided design for the identification of new potential therapeutics. The MDG employ chemical space mapping techniques and 'mine' datasets of small molecules for putative bioactivity against models of biological targets. Once a computational hit has been found, the molecule is biologically assayed to validate the prediction. Since 2004 the MDG has also advanced new approaches to computational drug discovery in parallel with their application to medically relevant targets, publishing on new methodologies for database preparation, conformer generation and scoring function refinements. Targets currently under investigation include members of the nuclear receptor superfamily, several critical pro-apopototic targets for cancer and the plasmepsin enzymes in malaria. The MDG's primary therapeutic focus is around oncology, with additional specific programmes in neurodegenerative and infectious disease areas.
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Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Lipitor
The research group led by Prof. Marina Lynch in Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience published a paper in the ‘Journal of Biological Chemistry’ in 2008 which identified that atorvastatin (Lipitor), a drug used to lower cholesterol, has significant biological activity in the brain where it acts as an anti-inflammatory agent. The paper reported that there was evidence of increased inflammatory changes in the brain with age and that atorvastatin reduced the activity of the cells (microglia) which trigger the inflammation.
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How Genes Control Brain Circuits and Behaviour
Neurogenetic studies of model organisms are crucial for understanding how genetic mutations cause neurological disease as well as for testing potential therapeutics. Trinity College researchers Dr. Kevin Mitchell, Dr. Pablo Labrador, Prof. Mani Ramaswami and their research groups study genetic control of neuronal stem cells, neuronal wiring and consequent behavior. Anchored in genetic studies of humans, rodents and Drosophila, research from this multidisciplinary group has revealed novel mechanisms of nervous system development and function and provided new understanding of neurological and neuropsychiatric disease. Highlights include: a) a collaboration with US and Japanese groups that reveals mechanisms by which microRNAs and associated disease-relevant proteins control synaptic mRNA translation required for brain homeostasis and plasticity (Neuron, 2006; PNAS, 2008); b) an intellectual synthesis that offers potentially important insights into how common neuropsychiatric phenotypes may derive from diverse genetic perturbations (PLoS Biology, 2007); and c) an international collaboration that reveals new mechanisms of brain wiring involving plexins and semaphorins (Neuron, 2007; Nature Neuroscience, 2008). The three researchers are Principal Investigators in the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and members of School of Genetics of Microbiology, as well as the School of Natural Sciences (Prof. Ramaswami).
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How Does the Brain Make Memories?
Without memory, we would live in a continual present; the experience of memory gives meaning and continuity to our lives. How Does the Brain Make Memories? This question can be rephrased in other, more technical, ways: How are memories encoded by neurons in the brain? How is this encoding affected by psychiatric or other conditions? An important and general hypothesis within the field is that memories are encoded as a result of changes in the strengths of connections between brain cells. This is known generally recognised as Hebb’s hypothesis: that connections (synapses) between brain cells (neurons) are plastic and change as a result of learning, disease or other conditions. The central theme of Prof. Shane O’Mara’s research is the investigation of the relations between synaptic plasticity (the mechanisms by which the brain changes as a result of experience), cognition (the abstract psychological processes by which we know, represent and understand the external world), and changes in learned behaviour. Within this broad domain he has concentrated on two particular and inter-related areas: 1). the neurobiology and neuropsychology of learning and memory; and 2). the neurobiology and neuropsychology of stress and depression. These two seemingly diverse areas actually overlap to a very considerable degree. The synaptic plasticity that allows for memories to be encoded is disordered to a very considerable degree in depression, and treatments reducing the effects of depression (exercise, drugs, social interaction) enhance synaptic plasticity and hence memory function. In turn, these treatments form the basis for therapies for age-related decline in memory and cognitive function. The quest to understand how the brain ‘makes memories’ embraces multiple levels of investigation from behaviour through brain systems to communication between brain cells and the molecules by which these cells transact their business. Additionally, the quest to understand how these processes can go wrong as a result of brain ageing or as a result of diseases such as depression is equally important. Prof. O’Mara’s research has been published in ‘Journal of Neuroscience’, ‘European Journal of Neuroscience’, ‘Experimental Brain Research’, ‘Journal of Anatomy’ and ‘Progress in Neurobiology’.
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Improving the Treatment and Diagnosis of Depression
By 2020 major depression will be the second most debilitating disorder worldwide. Recurring episodes are associated with psychosocial impairment, distress and increased risk of suicide. Each year 300,000 people suffer from depression in Ireland, resulting in 10,000 hospitalisations. The cost of depression to society has been estimated at 1% of the total European economy. Because we do not yet fully understand its pathobiology, diagnosis relies mainly on clinical features and specific therapies are limited. Despite important advances in antidepressant drugs and psychotherapies, 30% of people with severe depression remain treatment-resistant.
The most powerful therapy available for severe treatment-resistant depression is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), with a remission rate of 60-80%. However, use of ECT is limited by the need for anaesthesia and concerns about side-effects, particularly effects upon memory. Supported by the Health Research Board, a group led by Prof. Declan McLoughlin in the Department of Psychiatry and the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience is carrying out a randomised controlled trial of different forms of ECT. The aims of the work are to refine the use of ECT for depression and also carry out a series of related molecular studies to understand its mechanism of action and develop peripheral biomarkers to aid the diagnosis and management of depression. Recent findings on therapeutic neuromodulation and molecular neurobiology have been published in ‘The American Journal of Psychiatry’, ‘Psychological Medicine’, ‘Health Technology Assessment’, and ‘Journal of Biological Chemistry’.
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Neural Engineering
Neural engineering can be defined as the interface area between electronics, photonics, computer science, and mathematics, on the one hand, and the nervous system at the molecular, cellular, organ, and systemic level, on the other. Prof. Richard Reilly leads the Neural Engineering laboratory research team within the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering and the Trinity Institute of Neuroscience focused on deriving a quantitative understanding of precognitive and cognitive abilities, in order to build a technical basis for a quantum leap in the fields of neurorehabilitation. Research in the Neural Engineering laboratory is focused on modeling of neural system dynamics, specifically models that consider structural connectivity in the brain. These models, generated from high density human EEG, give an understanding of the directionality of information flow in the brain and the operation of distributed cortical processing networks. Recent research studies in the group have demonstrated the use of neurophysiologically interpretable system models, which infer the nature of synaptic deficits underpinning diseases such as schizophrenia. Such EEG based models can be used to investigate the influence of pharmacological manipulations on neurological diseases. Studies in the laboratory also include multisensory integration. Despite the fundamental role that sensory integration plays in performance and perception, how and when information from separate sensory modalities comes together in the human neocortex is an unsolved problem. The Neural Engineering laboratory uses non-invasive EEG methods to study of the human multisensory integration based on new stimulation and analytical methods developed by the group. These methods allow more detailed analysis of unisensory and multisensory processing. The Reilly group has published in the leading journals including ‘Journal of Neurophysiology’, ‘Clinical Neurophysiology’, ‘IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering’, ‘Neuroimage’, ‘IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering’ and others.
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Exploiting Cell Suicide for Cancer Therapy
Seamus Martin, Smurfit Professor of Medical Genetics, and his research team within the Department of Genetics at Trinity have published a series of highly-cited papers in leading international journals on the topic of programmed cell death. Their work, recently profiled in a ‘Nature Reviews’ article, explores how cells contrive to commit suicide when injured or infected and also how cancerous cells resist being killed by drugs aimed at their eradication. The Martin laboratory is consistently ranked within the top ten laboratories worldwide in this very competitive research area and they aim to use their research findings to improve current cancer therapies.
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Schizophrenia and Autism Findings
New research using genome wide techniques have uncovered rare deletions and duplications that occur de novo (not inherited) in some cases of schizophrenia and autism. Researchers from the Neuropsychiatric Genetics Research Group at the Department of Psychiatry have participated in two multicentre studies that have shown that deletions or duplication of a small region containing about 1.34 base pairs of DNA on chromosome 1 occur rarely but more frequently in schizophrenia and autism than in the general population. The same mutations are also found in learning disability and in individuals with a wide range of developmental abnormalities. These findings indicate that the biological mechanisms underlying schizophrenia and autism may overlap in some cases and point clearly to early neurodevelopmental processes. These findings were recently published in the journals 'Nature' (International Schizophrenia Consortium, 2008) and 'The New England Journal of Medicine' (Mefford et al, 2008). Principal investigators from TCD are Dr. Louise Gallagher, Dr. Aiden Corvin and Prof. Michael Gill (pictured).
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Genetics of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder
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The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA)
Launched in November 2006, the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) is the most comprehensive study on ageing in Ireland. It will provide a study of a representative cohort of up to 10,000 Irish people over the age of 50 years charting their health, social and economic circumstances over a 10-year period. TCD is leading the study, which is being undertaken by a cross-institutional, multidisciplinary team of experts from several Irish academic institutions. A group of international scientists advises the TILDA investigators. Rose Anne Kenny, Professor of Geriatric Medicine, Director of the Centre for Successful Ageing at St. James's Hospital is TILDA’s principal investigator. Funding has been provided by the Atlantic Philanthropies and Irish Life.
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A New Test for Lung Cancer
Under the leadership of Prof. Joseph Keane, Director of Research of the School of Medicine, the pulmonary group in St. James's, and the School of Medicine have recently published a new test for lung cancer in 'Nature Medicine'. This test was generated by using samples from over 100 patients with the disease.In collaboration with Boston University, the research team identified 80 genes whose expression in normal airway cells predicts lung cancer elsewhere in the lung with high accuracy. In fact, when combined with bronchoscopy, it improves the sensitivity of that test to 95%.
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Motor Neurone Disease Research
In April 2009 Prof. Orla Hardiman, Health Research Board Clinician Scientist and Consultant Neurologist at Beaumont Hospital, Clinical Professor of Neurology at Trinity College Dublin, became the first Irish recipient of the Sheila Essey Award from the American Academy of Neurology. The award recognises people who have made significant contributions in the search for the cause, prevention of, and cure for Motor Neurone Disease (MND). Prof. Hardiman’s project has been funded through the years primarily by the Health Research Board, with support from the American Muscular Dystrophy Association, American ALS Association, the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Foundation, and the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association. Her team has made a number of significant discoveries and include: the discovery of a new gene for Motor Neurone Disease; mutations in the gene ANG, (which codes for the protein angiogenin), lead to motor neurone death; the discovery that particular variations in genes can make certain populations more susceptible to Motor Neurone Disease than others; the discovery that Irish people with Motor Neurone Disease come from families where other neurodegenerative conditions such as Dementia and Parkinsons are more common: the finding that changes in thinking, memory and language (cognitive impairment) occurs in up to 50% of Irish MND patients, and that genes that cause cognitive impairment may be related to genes for MND.
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Low levels of Vitamin B12 Increase Risk of Spina Bifida
Children born to women who have low blood levels of vitamin B12 shortly before and after conception have an increased risk of neural tube defects such as spina bifida. The new findings by researchers at TCD, including first author of the study Dr. Anne Molloy (pictured) of the School of Medicine and co-author Prof. John Scott of the School of Biochemistry and Immunology, the Health Research Board of Ireland and the National Institutes of Health in the USA, were published in the March 2009 issue of ‘Pediatrics’. The neural tube is the embryonic structure that gives rise to the spine and brain. Spina bifida which can cause partial paralysis, and anencephaly where the brain and skull are severely underdeveloped, are the two most common forms of neural tube defects. The study shows that women with the lowest B12 levels during early pregnancy were almost five times more likely to have a child with a neural tube defect compared to women with the highest B12 levels.
New Findings Shed Light on Cause of Cerebral Malaria
A novel pathway that may contribute to the high mortality associated with severe malaria in African children has been identified by researchers from an international collaborative study led by Dr. James O’ Donnell, Director of the Haemostasis Research Group at TCD and St. James’s Hospital. The research recently published in the prestigious publication ‘PLoS Pathogens’ (2009) was funded by the Wellcome Trust and Science Foundation Ireland. In this study, the researchers investigated the significance of this interaction between the infected erythrocytes and the blood vessel wall.
Cancer Biomarkers and New Therapeutic Targets
The further we unravel the mysteries of cancer cells at a molecular level, the more we appreciate that cancer is highly-complex and so, unfortunately, “one-size treatment does not fit all”. Better ways of treating sub-groups of patients (ultimately, contributing to personalised medicine), are needed. Furthermore, improved methods for cancer diagnosis and monitoring, ideally involving minimally-invasive tests, could contribute substantially to earlier detection and treatment; and so better outcome from patients. With this in mind and combining experience in pharma industry and academia, in 2008 Dr. Lorraine O’Driscoll joined the School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences to establish the Biomarkers & Therapeutic Targets research group. This bi-directional translational research on biomarkers and new therapeutic targets spans extensive molecular profiling and analysis of cell lines and clinical specimens from consenting patients and healthy volunteers, using a range of advanced technologies including microarrays & qPCR (mRNAs and miRNAs); functional interrogation; proteomics (proteins, phosphoproteins); and advanced microscopy. This research has resulted in intellectual property protection to enable its exploitation in the interest of cancer patients; many peer-reviewed publications; and translational breast and prostate cancer clinical trials facilitated by the All Ireland Clinical Oncology Research Group (ICORG); where Dr. O’Driscoll is a principal investigator.