Trinity neurologist wins prestigious Healey Foundation Award
Posted on: 15 December 2020
Professor Orla Hardiman, Professor of Neurology, Trinity College has been honoured, as part of an international collaboration, with the second annual Healey Centre International Prize for Innovation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS/motor neurone disease).
Professor Hardiman is part of an international team, Project MinE Consortium who is developing the largest single disease whole genome sequencing project in the world. The team have sequenced the genomes of 22,500 people to increase our understanding of the genetic variations that alter the risk of ALS/MND as well as other clinical aspects of the disease.
The impact of this sequencing is tremendous as the genes identified from this collaborative effort are currently and actively used in diagnostic tests, gene therapy and drug discovery efforts in the field.
Professor Orla Hardiman said:
As an early participant of the Project MinE Consortium, and on behalf of my colleagues in Genomics led by Dr Russell McLaughlin, I am truly honoured that we have been awarded the prestigious Healey Foundation Award for Innovation in ALS Research. Understanding the genetic factors that contribute to this devastating disease will be pivotal to finding new treatments. And by combining genetics with clinical information we are definitely making progress. We will continue to work hard with our European colleagues to make ALS a treatable disease.
The award was presented virtually at the 31st International Symposium on ALS/MND.
For more information about Project MinE, see: https://www.projectmine.com/