Institute for Molecular Medicine, Trinity College Dublin
Dr. Dermot Kelleher
We have developed significant expertise in high content screening - a form of technology which allows us to perform high quality digital imaging of cells. This technique can be performed with rapid throughput and it allows extremely complex analysis to be done in an objective, unbiased and rapid way. In addition, it allows the analysis of cellular signalling events that are responsible for many of the functions of cells that may be perturbed in diseased states.
Our reason for seeking funding was to couple this technology to a second powerful technology for use in analysis of human cells. If the analysis can be done with sufficient accuracy and throughput, it would be possible to screen potentially 40,000 genes using an siRNA library, covering the entire genome. Hence, we have requested funding for the Transfer of Knowledge grant to allow us to incorporate such a screening capacity into our high content platforms. Such a provision will provide us with the ability to screen for molecules that interfere with immunological events and could potentially have a role in inflammatory diseases, such as arthritis or ulcerative colitis.
This funding has the capacity to have an enormous impact on the scale of the research which we are undertaking. If the programme is set up in order to develop a technological approach for application of such siRNA molecules to high content screening, it is possible to answer extremely complex questions in one screening run.
The Marie Curie office at the IUA was instrumental in assisting us in developing our concept. They provided us with clearer definitions of the European Commission's requirements and greater clarity in the specific goals and objectives that we identified within the programme. We had previously submitted this programme unsuccessfully to a prior round of funding and the office identified the structural defects within the programme, while permitting us to maintain the consistency in the scientific output that we required. Hence, we believe that this programme has the potential to have a very significant impact on Irish research science and we are grateful to the Irish Marie Curie office for their assistance in bringing this to fruition."
