Glycoscience Research Going Sweetly in NUI Galway

Glycoscientists in NUI Galway have had a lot of success in recent times. Research into the field of complex sugars, which cover all the cells in the human body and many of the proteins in the bloodstream, has been progressing well. Learning how sugar changes as the body grows or as diseases develop could lead to some massive scientific discoveries.

The research group, led by Professor Lokesh Johsi, has secured tens of millions of euro in the last year. For research into this field alone, €3 million has been secured. The investments for different areas of research within Glycoscience have come from different bodies including the Government and others. The Government's new Food Institutional Research Measure (FIRM), which was recently announced by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, has funded the group to study the sugar components of milk, in conjunction with researchers in the Teagasc Research Station, Co. Cork. The aim is to improve the Irish infant milk formula industry in Ireland, a world leader in the infant milk formula industry.

It has also secured funding from the Technology Innovation Development Awards (TIDA), from the Science Foundation Ireland in association with Enterprise Ireland. The group will lead one of these successful award projects and will collaborate on another two, the aim being to identify innovative ideas in glycoscience for commercial benefit.

More funding with the Alimentary Glycoscience Research Cluster, also supported by Science Foundation Ireland has been secured. The group will collaborate with many other similar groups around the country to investigate sugars in the gut, how to counteract gut pathogens and improving treatments to foster and maintain a healthier gut.

Finally, Dr. Siobhan Glavey, a postgraduate student of NUI Galway, has secured a prestigious award from the Health Research Board under the National SpR/SR Academic Fellowship Programme 2011 and will join the group to investigate the role of glycosylation in the development and progression of multiple myeloma, a cancer of antibody-producing plasma cells in the body. This research will be directed by Prof. Johsi and Prof. Micheal O'Dwyer of the Haematology Department at University Hospital Galway.

16 Jan 2012

by Mark Kelly