About Us
Welcome to the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin.
Our School began as a Department of Biochemistry, a core discipline within the biological sciences dedicated to understanding the molecular basis of life and the mechanisms that underlie human disease. Building on this initial foundation, we expanded our teaching and research activities to include the discipline of Immunology in line with the expertise of our staff and subsequently launched Ireland’s first ever undergraduate degree in Immunology. Over time, we have also developed significant strengths in Neuroscience.
This interdisciplinary growth has earned the School an international reputation for excellence in research and education. We are a collegial, dynamic and diverse community with a mission to provide a rich and outstanding educational and research experience for our undergraduates and postgraduate students, as well as our postdoctoral researchers. While our School is research intensive, it invariably maintains a strong international reputation for the quality and impact of its teaching and scholarly activities.
The School currently hosts 28 research groups whose interests span (and intersect) the fields of Biochemistry, Immunology and Neuroscience. Together, our researchers address fundamental questions in biology and human health while translating scientific discoveries into solutions to improve people’s lives.
Our research mission is to uncover the fundamental mechanisms that underlie human disease, which is underpinned by a multidisciplinary endeavour. This approach fosters collaboration across scientific disciplines and pushes the boundaries of discovery by promoting the translation of basic research discoveries into new therapies and treatments. Research originating within the School has already led to the creation of five new spin-out companies that are focused on the development of novel biotherapeutics
Our research excellence in these areas is supported by substantial investment in state-of-the-art infrastructure including facilities for protein crystallization, X-ray crystallography, cellular and in vivo transgenics, histochemistry, electron microscopy, confocal microscopy, and fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) and biosafety level 3 laboratories. Equally important is our commitment to sharing our passion and knowledge to inspire students, colleagues and the wider public. We do this through school outreach activities, public lectures, radio and television appearance, and other media contributions and community engagement activities.
In addition to a passion for discovery, our staff are driven by a commitment to entrepreneurship and innovation. In 2025, the School became the national centre of the ARC Hub for Therapeutics, a partnership across Irish universities dedicated to advancing promising therapeutic discoveries from the laboratory to clinical and commercial application. The ARC Hub has its headquarters in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology under the leadership of Dr Vincent Kelly. The Hub provides a critical bridge between fundamental life-science research and the development of downstream innovative therapies that address unmet medical needs.
For further information, please contact the Head of School, Prof. Andrew Bowie (email: agbowie@tcd.ie), or visit our webpages.