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COVID-19 Immunology

Dr Nollaig Bourke

Ussher Assistant Professor in Inflammageing, Trinity Translation Medicine Institute and The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA)

  • Research Institute:

    • Trinity Translation Medicine Institute and The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA)

  • Contact e-mail:
  • Contact number:
  • Thematic Area:

    • Diagnostic / Screening Assays and Translational Immunology Studies

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Research Profile:

Dr Bourke’s research group in TTMI investigates how changes to immune response, particularly inflammation and anti-viral immunity, change with age (chronological and biological) and how that relates to the initiation and pathogenesis of ageing-associated conditions. Dr Bourke is also a researcher in the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).

COVID-19 Project: Understanding host risk factors, in particular ageing, for COVID-19 immunity

Age, sex, socioeconomic position (SEP) and immune status are key determinants of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. This research aims to examine how these factors directly affect inflammatory and anti-viral immunity in COVID-19 and generation of long-term protective immune responses. Specifically, we are investigating how age affects immune measures during acute and convalescent COVID-19, how SEP modulates innate immune anti-viral pathways in COVID-19 and how some individuals may have more effective innate anti-viral responses that protects them against SARS-CoV-2. Our COVID-19 work in the TILDA study is complementary to these activities and adds to our understanding of host determinants of immunity and a more thorough investigation of the impact of ageing-associated risk factors on COVID-19. We are determining SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in TILDA as well as investigating important pre-pandemic demographic, clinical and immune factors that could influence COVID-19 in this population, including prior viral exposure, pre-pandemic “immune status” and multi-morbidity.