Trinity College Dublin is proud to announce that four of its researchers have secured awards worth a combined total of €2.57 million under the Research Ireland’s Pathway funding programme. This significant investment, totalling €23 million nationally, was announced by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless, to support early-career researchers in establishing independent research careers and providing resources, including support for a postgraduate student for each project.
Among these distinguished awardees is Dr Niamh Ryan, a Senior Research Fellow in Psychiatry at the School of Medicine, who received over €600,00 under this funding programme. According to Dr Ryan, her innovative project entitled ‘A multi-ancestry telomere-to-telomere genomic investigation of neuropsychiatric pedigrees’, will aim to address critical gaps in understanding “neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, which are poorly understood but cause significant disability”. Dr Ryan further adds that “because these disorders are heritable, finding risk genes offers a powerful way to improve diagnosis and treatments. However, only a small fraction of genetic risk variants have been identified so far, partly because research has focussed on European populations, and also because of limitations in the current technology-standard for genetic studies”.
Dr Ryan’s project will aim to use a new and evolving form of genome sequencing called long-read sequencing to increase the genomic search-space for individuals of all ancestries, enhancing the detection of variants involved in neuropsychiatric disorders. This will have the potential to increase our understanding of both psychiatric and clinical genomics, while championing equity and representation in research.
This significant recognition of Dr Ryan's award, along with the other Trinity awardees highlights the University's commitment to fostering excellent research and innovation. Prof Brian Broderick, Trinity’s Associate Dean of Research, extended his "warm congratulations to the awardees", emphasizing that this funding is a "key enabler for emerging researchers in our three faculties in Trinity College Dublin to pursue excellent research". Minister Lawless also highlighted that this investment "will support emerging researchers in their journey from postdoctoral work towards establishing themselves as independent investigators," and that these projects "will help drive advancements in key sectors such as healthcare".
The School of Medicine proudly acknowledges Dr Ryan's achievement, which directly contributes to advancing national healthcare priorities through innovative genomic research.#
