Science Foundation Ireland

Irish Cancer Society-supported researchers receive Science Foundation Ireland funding

Four researchers previously funded by the Irish Cancer Society have been awarded grants by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) to begin vital new cancer research projects.

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Dr Aideen Ryan (pictured) and Dr Naomi Walsh each received funding under the SFI’s Starting Investigator Research Grant (SIRG), while Dr Darran O’Connor and Dr Mark Tangney were awarded grants under the Career Development Award (CDA) Programme.

Their grants are part of a funding bursary of €22.3 million which the SFI has distributed among 40 research projects. The investment was announced on 18th October by Minister of State for Training, Skills and Innovation, John Halligan TD.

Dr Ryan is an Irish Cancer Society Senior Research Fellow at the Regenerative Medicine Institute Immunology Group in National University of Ireland, Galway.

Much of her research career has focussed on studying immunotherapeutic targeting in tumours.

Immunotherapy is the treatment of disease through suppression, enhancement or inducement of an immune response. These treatments hold great potential in treating any type of cancers with little to no side effects.

Dr Ryan will continue her studies in this area through her new SFI-funded project: 'Investigation of tumour stromal interactions in metastatic colon cancer for the identification of novel immuno-therapeutic targets'. She has been awarded €518,821 for the project.

Dr Walsh is a Research Fellow at the National Institute for Cellular Biotechnology, Dublin City University.

Her SFI-funded project, ‘Functional application of genomic variants to deliver personalised strategies for pancreatic cancer patients’ aims to develop functional 3D tumour models to study how genomic variants affect the development of pancreatic cancer and if they can be used to detect the disease at an early stage. Her project will receive €519,712 over four years.

Dr Darran O’Connor is a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacology at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

His four-year project, ‘HER CHOICE: development of a prototype decision support tool for Her2+ breast cancer’, was awarded €647,925 by the SFI’s CDA scheme.

His project will focus on personalised treatment – tailoring drug therapies in response to each patient’s individual cancer. He aims to develop a computational tool to allow doctors to determine the right drugs for each breast cancer patient by storing data about the individual tumour and the effect of certain therapies on it.

Dr Mark Tangney is a Principal Investigator in the Cork Cancer Research Centre in UCC.

His project, ‘Edible Probiotics as Cancer Theranostics’ was awarded €605,767 by the SFI’s CDA scheme.

Research hasshown that probiotic bacteria selectively grow in tumours. This project will examine if patients eating probiotics before cancer surgery leads to their presence in tumours, and whether these edible probiotics can act as a technology for early cancer diagnosis or therapy.

Dr Tangney and his team will also develop methods for detecting their presence in samples such as blood and urine, in order to develop a simple, rapid test to reveal the presence of a tumour, made possible by eating the probiotic at home prior to visiting your family doctor who can perform the test that day.

Commenting on the awards, Dr Robert O’Connor, Head of Research at the Irish Cancer Society, said:

“On behalf of the Irish Cancer Society I would like to congratulate Dr Ryan, Dr Walsh, Dr O’Connor and Dr Tangney on this funding announcement, and commend the work of Science Foundation Ireland in realising the potential of research into cancer treatment on the lives of patients throughout the country and beyond.

“Today’s announcement highlights the value and calibre of cancer researchers that the Irish Cancer Society invests in on behalf of the public who support this work.

“Incidences of cancer expected to double in Ireland by 2040. Hence finding new and innovative ways to better tackle the disease is vital if we are to support patients through the emerging cancer epidemic.”