Professor Cliona O’Farrelly
Professor of Comparative Immunology, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute
- Research Institute:
Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute
- Contact e-mail:
- Contact number:
- Thematic Area:
Translational Immunology Studies
Research Profile:
With a background in comparative, liver and cancer immunology, Cliona’s research focuses on the innate immune response to viruses and how it mediates resistance to viral infection. She has served as Co-Chair of the Department of Health’s COVID-19 Research-Subgroup (Expert Advisory Group); COF is a recipient of SFI COVID-19 RR Funding ‘DIRECTS: Detecting Innate pRotECTion against SARSCoV2’.
COVID-19 Project:
The innate immune system’s anti-viral mechanisms can help to contain certain viral infection before induction of adaptive immune responses. It is possible that certain individuals infected with SARS-CoV2 may clear the infection using innate immune mechanisms only, and these may not display clinical symptoms or have detectable anti-SARS-CoV2 antibodies. This project will examine the activation of innate immune responses in different COVID-19 patient cohorts in order to establish if infection can be cleared by innate immunity alone. These studies may help to identify biomarkers of innate anti-viral resistance to SARS-CoV2 infection
