AN Irish academic has been awarded a significant sum of research funding to support a pioneering study into the treatment of illnesses such as multiple sclerosis (MS).
Professor Denise Fitzgerald, of Queen’s University Belfast, has been awarded €6.26m in Research Professorship funding from Research Ireland to investigate ways that ageing affects how the immune system helps repair brain tissue in conditions like MS.
Professor Denise Fitzgerald (Pic: QUB)During the five-year study, Professor Fitzgerald will divide her role between Trinity College Dublin and Queen’s University Belfast, ensuring all-island collaboration on the research area.
“This ambitious programme of research will uncover new insights into fundamental changes in the older immune system that has a knock-on effect on brain repair,” Professor Fitzgerald, a neuroimmunologist from the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine at Queen’s, said.
"This new knowledge can then be used to develop pioneering regenerative treatment for MS and other neurological conditions,” she added.
“To speed this up, we are embedding research into new clinical trials led by consultant neurologist, Hugh Kearney,” she explained.
"This will increase the opportunities for people with MS in Ireland to access experimental treatments early, as well as to co-produce research with us as key public members of the research programme.
“Through this neuroimmunology research programme we will train the next generation of scientists, doctors and health professionals, side-by-side, in partnership with the public.”
Professor Fitzgerald will now lead a research team of ten scientists based in Trinity College Dublin.
They will partner with the FutureNeuro Research Ireland Centre for Translational Brain Science, St James’s Hospital and Beaumont Hospital to “discover why our immune cells become less able to coax brain stem cells to repair damage as we age” a spokesperson for the project explained.
“This research combines immunology, neuroscience and regenerative biology to tackle this complex problem,’ they added.
Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, CEO of Research Ireland, said the organisation was “pleased to support Prof. Fitzgerald’s critically important work over the next five years”.
"Funding excellent research talent is a key part of our recently launched strategy, as is addressing Ireland’s opportunities and challenges in areas such as public health," he added.
"I look forward to seeing the outputs and impact of Professor Fitzgerald’s endeavours over the coming years.”
Professor Fitzgerald will be an investigator at FutureNeuro, the Research Ireland Centre that aims to translate breakthroughs in understanding of brain structure and function to transform the patient journey for people with neurological diseases.
The study will also include international collaboration with world-leading experts at Cambridge University, University College London, the University of Toronto, the Institute of Neuroscience – Alicante, the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Maynooth University.
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