Trinity breakthrough offers treatment for conditions

A BREAKTHROUGH in how cells “commit suicide” made by scientists at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) offers new avenues for the treatment of cancer and auto-immune conditions such as arthritis.

Smurfit professor of medical genetics at TCD Seamus Martin, who led the research group, said the discovery was an important step in understanding how cell suicide was regulated.

Prof Martin and his team found that the Bel-2 gene family played an unexpected role in regulating the process of mitochondrial division.