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UCD Conway Festival gold medal

Dr Niamh O’Sullivan has been awarded the UCD Conway Festival of Research & Innovation gold medal, sponsored by Roche, for her preliminary research to identify epigenetic mechanisms, which may contribute to disease characteristics seen in schizophrenia.

A postdoctoral researcher in the Applied Neurotherapeutics Research Group, Dr O’Sullivan was shortlisted from over 100 Conway scientists to present this original research at the 9th annual UCD Conway Festival of Research & Innovation on Thursday, September 17th in University College Dublin.

It is well established that multiple genetic and environmental factors contribute to schizophrenia. Dr O’Sullivan and her colleagues believe that these factors may interact at critical periods in early development to create a defective epigenetic state within certain brain structures. The knock-on effect of disrupting the functionality and connectivity of nerve cells within the brain may result in the onset of the symptoms associated with schizophrenia. 

Niamh O’Sullivan outlined how she has begun to identify functional regulatory elements that control gene activation in different cell types, at different stages of development using a next-generation gene sequencing platform. Ultimately, she hopes that by revealing the sequence of molecular events responsible for the emergence of schizophrenia-like behaviour, scientists will then be able to identify new therapeutic targets for the disease. 

Pictured L-R: Dr Niamh O'Sullivan, winner of the UCD Conway Festival gold medal; Dr Keith Murphy, ANRG; Prof. Des Fitzgerald, Director UCD Conway Institute & Vice President for Research; Ms Jenny Pearson, Roche representative.

Conway researchers Sam Maher and Sara Hayden were placed second and third in the competition for their respective preliminary research on improving drug permeability across the gastrointestinal tract and understanding the relationship between odours and the genes that govern our sense of smell.

Four researchers impressed the judging committees during the themed moderated poster sessions and received prizes for delivering concise overviews of their work during the five minute time limits imposed. They were Kristina Gegenbauer, The Role of RGS18 in Platelet Inhibition; Sarah Kandil, Upregulation of the Transsulfuration Pathway during  Gliotoxin Mediated Inhibition of GSH in C6 Glioma Cells; David Magee, DNA sequence variation in the imprinted bovine IGF2 and IGF2R genes and associations with growth and carcass traits in dairy cattle and Brendan Dolan, The Interaction of Helicobacter pylori with a Mucus Secreting Cell Line - A Model System for Mucus Interacting Pathogens.

Delegates at the conference heard keynote lectures from Professor Kingston Mills, TCD and UCD Professor Geraldine Butler. In this era of innovation and the Smart economy, Professor Mills gave a fascinating personal insight into the business of operating a successful start-up biotechnology company through first-hand experience with his own Opsona Therapeutics.

UCD Conway Fellow, Professor Geraldine Butler spoke about her research that contributed to an international effort to sequence the genomes of six new Candida species. Candida species are among the most common causes of opportunistic fungal infections worldwide, with mortality rates of up to 60%. The work was published earlier this year in the scientific journal, Nature.

The joint winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2000, Professor Eric Kandel delivered the plenary lecture of the Festival after receiving a Ulysses medal in recognition of his research on the mechanism of memory formation from Dr Hugh Brady, the President of UCD. Presenting the award, Dr Brady said, “Professor Kandel’s story is one of a lifetime dedicated to investigating the mechanism of memory formation; a lifetime of research achievements in his quest, as he once said himself, to understand the brain - one cell at a time. This award is in recognition of his outstanding contribution to neurobiology, an inspirational story to set our resolve as scientists and researchers.”

Born in Vienna on November 7, 1929, Kandel immigrated to America before the start of World War II. He believes that it was the traumatic events of his last year in Vienna living under Nazi rule that triggered his specific later interest in the mechanisms of memory.

Kandel found that the brain must chemically alter proteins to generate short-term memories and must additionally make particular kinds of proteins in order to transform short-term memories into long-term memories - the brain's way of filling important documents away, for potential future use. He also was among the first to detail the critical role that the substance called serotonin plays in transmitting electrical messages between nerve cells. When serotonin is lacking, it can lead to depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

The 9th annual UCD Conway Festival of Research & Innovation was sponsored by BioSciences, Servier Laboratories Ireland & Roche.