Agri-science projects to benefit from €15m in research funding

AGRI-SCIENCE projects occupy a prominent position in the latest €15 million worth of research funding rolled out by Research and Innovation Minister Seán Sherlock.

Teagasc has two projects to be funded under the programme, from Dr Kieran Meade and Dr Ewen Mullins. One relates to developing disease imm-unity in animals, the other focuses on enhancing the performance of plant organisms.

Overall, Ireland has gained €300m in research funding to date. Food and the rural environment are earmarked as core recipients in the Government’s goal of securing €600m by 2014.

The range of sectors covered by this latest fund-ing includes food, biotech, nano-technology, climate change, environmental services, transport, health, energy and ICT.

Mr Sherlock said: “Com-panies that undertake research and development have shown a level of growth in trade and ex-ports during the downturn that clearly demonstrates the value of engaging in high-calibre research and innovation activity.”

Dr Meade of the Teagasc Animal Biosciences Centre in Grange, Co Meath, received funding for his project, Distinct Interleukin-8 (IL8) promoter haplotypes — functional implications for expression, neutrophil recruitment and Staphylococcus aureus survival in cattle.

Dr Meade said: “The IL8 protein is key to mediating successful immunity. It functions by attracting cells and activating them to kill bacteria. We found variants in the gene that encodes this protein which are variable between cattle breeds and could confer immunological differences.

“We aim to characterise the functional variants of the IL8 gene. Exploiting these differences will allow us to breed animals with better immunity, thus reducing infectious disease on farms, antibiotic use and contamination of the food chain.”

Meanwhile, Dr Mullins of the Teagasc Crops, Environment and Land Use Research Centre in Oak Park, Carlow, received funding for his project, developing a novel technology platform for the genetic transformation of plant and fungal cells.

He said: “The bacteria Agrobacterium is the most favoured tool used in biotechnology for genetically improving an organism’s performance. Unfortunately, for end users of Agrobacterium, capitalising on outputs from their research is un-feasible due to restrictive licensing conditions.

“We have developed a novel alternative, EMT, that is as efficient as Agro-bacterium and bypasses existing patents. We will test the adaptability of EMT on a wider range of organisms and determine how accurate EMT can be in transferring DNA and improve the efficacy of EMT.”