Patients Benefiting from Cutting Edge Medical Research at TCD’s Institute of Molecular Medicine

Posted on: 15 May 2008

A report documenting five years of cutting-edge bioscientific research at Trinity College ‘s Institute of Molecular Medicine at  St James’s Hospital, was launched  on the 15th May by the Minister for Education and Science,  Batt O’Keeffe. There are currently 180 clinician researchers and scientists working together at IMM in research teams, strategically focusing on the key areas of infection and immunity, cancer and neurosciences. 

Doctors from St James’s Hospital and some of the country’s other leading hospitals, work with scientists at TCD’s Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM), translating top class bioscientific research into improved patient healthcare in Ireland’s hospitals.  It is a facility dedicated to research into the molecular basis of human disease where science and clinical science combine to promote the laboratory to patient approach in medicine.

The IMM also has at its disposal state-of-the-art facilities such as High Content Screening Analysis which provides extremely advanced imaging of human cells among other tools for its research.

Commenting on the significance of the IMM’s work, its Director and Head of the TCD School of Medicine, Professor Dermot Kelleher stated: “At the Institute of Molecular Medicine clinical research from Ireland’s leading teaching hospitals combined with cutting edge interdisciplinary university research in the sciences and technology is producing world class medical research for the benefit of patient care in our hospitals.”

An example of the research carried out in the IMM includes that of the Genomics laboratory which mainly focuses on the diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, especially coeliac disease and inflammatory bowel disease.  The Inflammation and Immunity Research Group investigates allergic lung diseases, including asthma of which  Ireland has one of the highest incidences in the world.  In the area of Molecular Medicine research focuses on the immune defenses and disease development.  The IMM team recently made the groundbreaking discovery concerning the way in which hepatitis C virus escapes the immune defence.

For all detailed research summaries for all of the IMM researchers, click on   The Report on Translational Bioscience 2003-2008 : http://www.tcd.ie/IMM/translational_bioscience_2003_2008/content.php