Two School of Medicine researchers have been announced among the 13 Grant Awardees to Trinity College under the Frontiers for the Future funding programme.
The School of Medicine awardees are Professor Mary Canavan, Assistant Professor in Immunology and course co-ordinator for the Postgraduate Diploma in Immune Therapies in the School of Medicine and Professor Aisling Dunne, Associate Prof in Neuroinflammation, Biochemistry Associate Prof in Neuroinflammation, Physiology.
Professor Canavan project will aim to understand whether novel immune cells known as Tissue Resident Memory T cells (TRMs) are responsible for Rheumatoid Arthritis disease initiation and flares. TRM cells are memory cells that stay in the tissues so they may quickly respond to an infection if they encounter it again.
Professor Dunne’s project will carry out a detailed assessment in relevant cell types and tissue biopsies from individuals suffering from Irritable Bowel Disorder to validate their potential as novel treatments for IBD and other inflammatory diseases.
Speaking about the awards, Prof. Sinéad Ryan, Dean of Research at Trinity, said: “I congratulate all the Trinity awardees – the disciplinary range in evidence here is testament to the research excellence across disciplines of which we in Trinity are so justly proud. I look forward to seeing how these projects progress over the coming years as they address a number of pressing environmental, health and technological problems.”
Patrick O’Donovan, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, said: “I am pleased to announce the Research Ireland Frontiers for the Future projects, which support high-risk, high-reward research endeavours. The selected projects, spanning 12 research institutions, bring fresh and innovative ideas that will help boost business and benefit society."
The research projects will vary in length between two and four years, and hold values ranging from approximately €580,000 to €825,000.