Nollaig Bourke

Affiliation:
Trinity College Dublin

Research interests:

• Innate immunology;
• Inflammation
• Interferons
• Ageing
• Sex Hormones; Endometriosis

Dr Nollaig Bourke is an Associate Professor in Medical Gerontology in the School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, and leads the Lifecourse Immunology Group in the Trinity Translational Medicine Institute (TTMI). Her lab investigates how immune function changes across the human lifespan, with a particular focus on innate immunity, including the regulation of inflammation and type I interferon responses.

Using a combination of immunology, systems biology, and human cohort approaches, her group explores how variation in these pathways contributes to healthy ageing, disease susceptibility, and clinical outcomes.

A major focus of the group's research is understanding how female sex hormones regulate inflammasome-driven inflammation in the female genital tract, and how dysregulation of these processes influences pathology and healthspan in endometriosis and related conditions. 

Publications:

Marks, Z. R. C., et al. (2023). Interferon‑ε is a tumour suppressor and restricts ovarian cancer. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06441-4

Bourke, N. M., et al. (2022). Human IFNε: Spatiotemporal expression, hormone regulation and innate immunity in the female reproductive tract. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.135407

Fung, K. Y., et al. (2024). Expression of interferon epsilon in mucosal epithelium is regulated by Elf3. https://doi.org/10.1128/mcb.334-343

Dyer, A. H., et al. (2026). Systemic inflammation, delirium and clinical progression in mild‑moderate Alzheimer disease. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106159

Smith, N., et al. (2022). Defective activation and regulation of type I interferon immunity is associated with increasing COVID‑19 severity. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34945-7

PubMed Profile:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=nollaig+bourke

ORCID Profile:
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4313-6859