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A curiosity-driven genetic discovery that should impact cancer treatments
The Bracken lab has discovered new biological targets that may help devise alternative therapies for cancers that are becoming resistant to existing drugs.
News 2019 September 16
M.Sc. Genomic Medicine
Application are invited to the new M.Sc. in Genomic Medicine. This M.Sc. offers a state of the art overview of the emerging field of Genomic Medicine. Genomics is increasingly impacting on the conduct of medical practice and life science research, leading to the era of personalised medicine.
News 2019 June 7
Ground-breaking scientist, Trudy Mackay, receives prestigious Dawson Prize
Ground-breaking US scientist, Trudy Mackay, has just been honoured with the prestigious 2018 Dawson Prize in Genetics in Trinity. Trudy Mackay is Director of Clemson University’s Center for Human Genetics (CHG) and a scientist of international prominence, whose futuristic research on complex genetic traits continues to move science forward in the 21st century.
News 2018 November 2
Ancient genome analyses by Bradley group reveal mosaic pattern of goat domestication
Prof Dan Bradley’s group formed part of an international team of scientists that sequenced the genomes from ancient goat bones to shed light on the domestication patterns of these animals.
News 2018 July 6
New Polycomb protein discovered in Bracken lab
Prof Adrian Bracken’s group has discovered new proteins that aid in deciding how cells develop. These are part of a new family of proteins that encode vertebrate specific Polycomb proteins.
News 2018 April 9
Prof Adrian Bracken has been awarded funds to research a rare form of childhood brain cancer
Worldwide Cancer Research and The Brain Tumour Charity announced funding of £218,000 for TCD Genetics Professor Adrian Bracken to study a rare but highly aggressive childhood brain cancer, DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma).
News 2018 January 10
Three new SFI-funded projects in Genetics
News 2017 September 22

Read more about the three new SFI-funded projects in Genetics

Nine research projects based in Trinity have secured over €14 million in funding from a €43 million investment from the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Investigators Programme. The investment, announced by the Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation and Research and Development, John Halligan, will fund 26 research projects in 10 Irish institutions.

Three of these SFI-funded projects, led by Frank Wellmer, Adrian Bracken, Jane Farrar and Peter Humphries, will be based in the Smurfit Institute of Genetics.

Wellmer, whose project will be co-funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, will develop new strains of pest-resistant crops. This work will generate genetic variants of the brassica family of plants, which includes important species of cauliflower and oilseed rape. Variations will occur in the genes for “trichomes”, hair-like projections that can defend against insect pests, which may contribute to sustainable agriculture in the future.

Bracken’s group’s research interests include the molecular mechanisms involved in the development of cancer and identifying targets for next-generation therapies. Their project will test new drugs for one of these targets, a cancer gene called EZH2 and develop diagnostic tests which will enable doctors to use specialised therapies tailored to a patient’s genes.

Prof Jane Farrar and Prof Peter Humphries will collaborate on a project exploring new therapies for genetic eye disorders. Farrar’s research focuses on the genetic factors contributing to these hereditary diseases and therapies which arise from the suppression of these genes.

Humphries’ research interests include the molecular and cellular basis of these diseases. This collaboration, drawing upon the skillsets of two leaders in genetic eye disease, will design therapies for eye disorders such as glaucoma and “age-related macular degeneration”.

How cancers trick the immune system into helping rather than harming them
The ’Goldilocks’ genes that hold clues to a plethora of diseases
News 2017 February 8
Geneticists pen new tales of human history with the ink of ancient DNA
New genes from scratch - Trinity geneticist discusses the evolution of DNA
News 2016 November 9
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