SFI President of Ireland Future Research Leaders Award for UCD medical researcher
Pictured: Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland, President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, Dr Christina Kiel, UCD School of Medicine and Systems Biology Ireland at Áras An Uachtaráin
Posted: February 6, 2018
Dr Christina Kiel, Principal Investigator at the UCD School of Medicine and Systems Biology Ireland, has received a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) President of Ireland Future Research Leaders Award.
Her grant of €1.57m is the largest of five research awards presented by SFI to academics in Ireland.
Dr Kiel’s research will examine how mutations in cancer damage biological networks that control the functioning of cells and the health of organisms.
“The research will identify the network connections that are deranged by genetic mutation and then aim to exploit this aberrant connectivity to destroy cancer cells,” said Dr Kiel.
“Ultimately, this approach may provide better mechanism-driven diagnostics and treatments.”
The partner institutions in Dr Kiel’s project are (opens in a new window)Uppsala University, Sweden, (opens in a new window)Maastricht University, The Netherlands, the (opens in a new window)Centre for Genomic Regulation, Spain, and (opens in a new window)St Vincent’s University Hospital, Ireland.
Research supported by these five (opens in a new window)SFI President of Ireland Future Research Leaders Awards will explore the development of drugs for the treatment of diseases and research on regenerative medicine.
(opens in a new window)President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, honoured the award recipients at a special ceremony in Áras an Uachtaráin in Dublin.
He presented a total of five research grants, representing a €7m investment overall by (opens in a new window)Science Foundation Ireland.
The five recipients of the SFI President of Ireland Future Research Leaders Awards were received today by President Michael D. Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin (opens in a new window)https://t.co/p9RJIfb4RZ (opens in a new window)@PresidentIRL (opens in a new window)#BelieveinScience (opens in a new window)pic.twitter.com/ECVXFpfwC4
— SFI (@scienceirel) (opens in a new window)January 25, 2018
The other four awardees are:
Dr Tomás Ryan, (opens in a new window)Trinity College Dublin, (award value €986,012) – Investigating where the brain stores memories with a view to retrieving lost memories.
Dr Lydia Lynch, (opens in a new window)Trinity College Dublin, (award value €1.52m) – Exploring new therapies for the treatment of obesity-related diseases.
Dr Claire McCoy, (opens in a new window)Royal College of Surgeons Ireland, (award value €1.54m) – Exploring new therapies for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.
Professor John Laffey, (opens in a new window)National University of Ireland Galway, (award value €1.54m) – Investigating how stem cells could treat sepsis.
By: Jamie Deasy, digital journalist, UCD University Relations
