Congratulations to UCD School of Medicine's Assistant Professor Dearbhaile Dooley, recipient of the 2025 NSI Early Career Investigator Award!
The NSI Early Career Investigator Award recognises exceptional early-career researchers making impactful contributions to neuroscience in Ireland. Dr Dooley is honoured for her pioneering work on neuroimmune responses in spinal cord injury (SCI).
Dr Dooley says, ''I'm honoured to receive the NSI Early Career Investigator Award from Neuroscience Ireland. At UCD School Of Medicine and UCD Conway Institute, my lab has been working to advance understanding of the neuroinflammatory response after spinal cord injury - research funded by University College Dublin and Research Ireland. I'm very grateful for the recognition and looking forward to presenting our findings to fellow neuroscience colleagues at the upcoming NSI conference in Belfast on August 28th and 29th 2025.''
Dr Dooley's research has established a traumatic SCI model in rodents at UCD and developed a novel transgenic mouse line for tracking microglial activity — tools now central to SCI research at UCD. Alongside her innovative research, she is a passionate educator, teaching across multiple programmes, and a committed advocate for equality, diversity, and inclusion in academia.
Well done, Dr Dooley!
Read about the award here.
Explore Dr Dooley’s profile & NSI 2025 talk here.