SFI-funded research team makes significant medical breakthrough

A team of researchers funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) has made a significant breakthrough that could lead to new treatments for infectious and inflammatory diseases.

The team of immunologists has discovered a new process in our bodies that dampens down the potentially dangerous effects of an over-active immune response to bacterial infections.

Led by Professor Luke O'Neill in the Department of Biochemistry, Trinity College Dublin, the findings provide important new information on how our immune systems are regulated during infection.

This will help efforts to develop new treatments for diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Professor O' Neill said today: "The project dates back to 1999 when I was working on sabbatical at Millennium Pharmaceuticals in the USA.

"Millennium had discovered a protein called ST2, which when activated would dampen down the inflammation that occurs in lungs during an asthma attack.

"What they didn't know however, was how ST2 worked," he explained.

Prof O'Neill is currently part of a collaborative effort with two other TCD researchers to commercialise their research with a new Irish biotechnology venture, Opsona.