Dr Nollaig Bourke wins Wellcome Career Development Award

Posted on: 20 November 2023

Dr Nollaig Bourke, Discipline of Medical Gerontology, School of Medicine and Trinity Translational Medicine Institute (TTMI) has been awarded a Wellcome Career Development Award (CDA). Her project – which investigates why anti-viral immune responses can decline with age - will run for 8 years (2023-2032) and is valued at €2 million. By the end of this 8 year award Nollaig should have achieved international standing in her area of research.

Dr Bourke said:

“This Wellcome Trust Career Development Award is invaluable long-term support to my lab that will enable us to do comprehensive investigations into how and why the anti-viral immune system becomes altered as humans get older. We believe that by focusing our investigations on the type I interferon responses in our research, we can uncover fundamental changes to the immune system that are important for dictating human health outcomes during ageing.”

The CDA scheme provides funding for mid-career researchers from any discipline who have the potential to be international research leaders. Researchers will develop their research capabilities, drive innovative programmes of work and deliver significant shifts in understanding that could improve human life, health and wellbeing.

Project information

Project title: Unravelling the effects of ageing on the type I interferon anti-viral response

This research focuses on investigating why anti-viral immune responses decline in a significant number of people as they get older, whereas some individuals will maintain strong anti-viral immunity even at older ages.

To understand this, this research focuses on an important component of the anti-viral immune response: the activation and regulation of type I interferon (IFN-I) proteins. IFN-Is are essential for early and broad activation of anti-viral immune protection. This project aims to answer:

- When during human ageing does dysregulation of IFN-I responses occur?

- Who are most likely to experience age-related changes to IFN-I immunity and are there associations with health?

- Why do IFN-I responses change with age?

This research will be a multi-disciplinary endeavour, innovative in its application of cutting-edge approaches from two major fields of research - immunology and ageing - in unique longitudinal ageing studies.

Commenting on Dr Bourke’s success, the Dean of Research Professor Sinéad Ryan said:

 “My warmest congratulations to Nollaig Burke on receiving this Wellcome Career Development Award. By combining research on immunology and on ageing in an innovative way to further our understanding of how the body responds to viral infections, this project answers the call in our Research Charter to ‘Harness our collective expertise for the greater good’.”

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