Deciphering the networks of life
UCD’s Professor Walter Kolch uses research to understand the networks of the human body, ultimately opening the door to personalised medicines. It’s all part of UCD’s aim to use research to address the challenges that will shape our futures.
Mapping, simulating and understanding uncharted biochemical networks
Generations of scientific and technical discovery have given us an almost complete understanding of the location and function of the cells of the human body.
The biochemical networks through which these cells interact and make decisions which effect the body’s fate, however, are comparatively uncharted territory.
Professor Walter Kolch, Director of Systems Biology Ireland and of the UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, has a mission to ‘decipher the Networks of life’. A recognised leader in systems biology, Professor Kolch co-ordinates unique interdisciplinary research, to simulate biochemical networks and to better understand the dynamic interactions within them. He combines modern biomedical technologies and mathematical / computational modelling to analyse, understand, predict and eventually manipulate the behaviour of complex biological systems. The resulting mapping has valuable applications for human health including opening the door to personalised medicine.
Based on the Belfield campus of UCD, Systems Biology Ireland (SBI) is set to become a national centre for excellence in systems biology research.
SBI focuses on the development of predictive mathematical models for intracellular signal transduction networks of:
- Growth factor receptor signalling
- Cell differentiation
- Cell survival
- Cell motility and migration
- Hypoxia signalling
SBI’s research is applied to therapies in the fields of cancer, inflammatory diseases and mesenchymal stem cells. As a Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Science Engineering and Technology (CSET), SBI was established in 2009 as a research initiative between University College Dublin (UCD) and the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG).
Using research to address the challenges of the future
UCD is committed to becoming a leading European research-intensive university that drives innovation and discovery within its community of world-class researchers. At the heart of UCD’s research strategy is the ambition to address the challenges that will shape Ireland’s future and its role in the wider world. Key national issues include environment, energy, agrifood, health, ICT, financial services and the development of evidence based policy. These align with many of the current global challenges in areas such as financial risk, energy, food shortage and environment.
UCD will foster:
- Basic research embedded in strong disciplines
- Creative interdisciplinary programmes to promote new fields of study
- Initiatives that exploit new knowledge to inform public policy and to stimulate economic development in areas of national priority.
The UCD Strategy has been developed against a background of unprecedented change in Ireland. As Ireland’s largest university, UCD plays a major role in the national recovery process with particular emphasis on key areas such as biopharmaceutics, ICT, renewable energy and agrifood.
From here, you can discover more about research at University College Dublin and learn about specific research by subject and topic.
Graduate Studies
UCD offers a unique international masters degree in forensic computing for law enforcement agencies such as Interpol, that could be the stuff of television.
It’s just one among a diverse range of graduate courses available at UCD.
>> Learn more about Cybercrime and Graduate studies opportunities at UCD
Innovation and Commercialisation
Ireland is at the heart of the world’s racehorse breeding industry. So where else would you expect to find the university that fostered a spin-out company, Equinome, that uses genomics technologies to test for speed and performance in the bloodstock industry across the world.
Learn how UCD’s focus on Innovation is bringing research ideas to life in Ireland and worldwide.
International Education
In 1873 John Henry Newman published a series of lectures and essays in which he proposed how a university should foster knowledge and learning.
Discover how UCD has developed and built upon The Idea of a University for a new global era.
>> Learn more about UCD's history of International Education