Science Spin July 2008 : Sponsored Content - NUI Maynooth

Keeping lungs healthy

Shirley O'Dea is a lecturer in the Biology Department at NUI Maynooth and heads a research group in the Institute of Immunology at NUIM. Shirley's career inscience began with a BSc degree in Biochemistry at University College Dublin from 1987 to 1991. During her degree, Shirley had an opportunity to spend a summer working in a research laboratory at SmithKline Beecham in Surrey, England. Working with research scientists on a project developing toothpaste for hypersensitive teeth enabled Shirley to begin to apply her scientific knowledge to addressing health problems and sparked an enduring passion for research.

During her final year at UCD, Shirley began to learn about the way that cells in the body communicate and cooperate with each other to form a healthy, functioning organism and decided to carry out a PhD in the area of cell signalling. A PhD project investigating growth factors in lung cancer cells was available in the National Cell and Tissue Culture Centre (NCTCC) at Dublin City University and Shirley successfully applied for the position.

Aggressive

During her PhD, Shirley learned about lung cell biology and cancer and discovered a mechanism that allows lung cancer cells to grow more aggressively than normal cells. Lung cancer is the biggest cause of cancer deaths in Ireland and in many other countries. Despite this, we are still learning about how this disease develops and treatments for lung cancer have improved very little in the past few decades. The NCTCC at DCU was also involved with BioResearch Ireland (BRI) which was aimed at commercialising research in Irish universities. Through the NCTCC and BRI, Shirley became familiar with issues such as protecting intellectual property developed in Universities and ways in which research could be commercialised.

Standards

The countries of the European Union are trying to raise the standards of science in Europe in order to improve the health, living standards, education and economic status of European citizens. Since 1984, millions of euro have been invested in hundreds of large and small projects under the EU Framework Programmes aimed at generating a 'knowledge society' that can compete with the United States and other emerging scientific hotspots such as China.

The Marie Curie Fellowships were set up to increase the mobility of European researchers by providing salary and research costs to work in leading laboratories in other countries. Funds are also available to allow researchers to return to their countries of origin to bring back their expertise and also to avoid a 'brain drain' from less-favoured regions. Following her PhD, Shirley was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship to study respiratory disease in the Pathology Department at Edinburgh University Medical School. Edinburgh is a leading centre of research into respiratory diseases and Shirley was able to learn about a broad range of diseases that affect the lungs.

Disease

In order to provide the body with the oxygen it needs for normal activities, the lungs inhale 15,000 litres of air each day. The air is drawn into the airways whereharmful substances are filtered out before the air reaches the delicate gas exchange regions deep in the lungs. Although they are continuously exposed to these airborne substances, healthy lungs are remarkably successful at protecting themselves from harm and can rapidly repair damage if it does occur. However, certain environmental or genetic factors can mean that damage is not properly repaired and disease occurs.

In recent decades, lung diseases such as asthma, cancer, emphysema and cystic fibrosis have become significant health problems worldwide and particularly in Ireland which has the second highest death rate from lung disease in Europe (twice the EU average). Traditional therapies have had limited success and novel approaches are essential if current trends are to be reversed. In order to develop new therapies, we need to improve our understanding of lung repair and disease processes. During her work at Edinburgh University, Shirley developed methods to grow lung cells so that they could be studied in laboratories and also studied gene therapy approaches to treating lung diseases.

NUIM

After five years at Edinburgh University, Shirley returned to Ireland to work as a Senior Research Scientist in the Institute of Immunology within the Biology Department at NUI Maynooth. She was subsequently awarded a Science Foundation Ireland Investigator Programme Grant to investigate mechanisms involved in regeneration of healthy lungs after injury and during disease. She was then appointed to a permanent lectureship position in the Biology Department. To date, grants totalling over €1.8 million from Science Foundation Ireland, EU Framework Programme 6 and Enterprise Ireland have been awarded to her research group.

Focusing on the microenvironment within the airways and the communication that takes place between components, Shirley's research group is studying the cells and the biochemical signals involved in lung regeneration following damage and trying to understand what has gone wrong with these cells and signals duringdisease. The ability to enhance lung regeneration following injury or during disease would help to reduce disease symptoms and improve lung function. The group has discovered new signals involved in lung disease and is looking at ways to re-programme these signals to improve repair, reduce disease symptoms and restore lung function. Shirley's group has also filed a patent describing a novel method of delivering therapeutic molecules to lung cells.

Young scientists

In September 2007, as part of an EU grant programme, Shirley hosted the British Association for Lung Research meeting on gene and stem cell therapies for lung disease at NUI Maynooth. The meeting was attended by about 100 scientists and clinicians from the UK, US and mainland Europe. Each year, her laboratory also hosts secondary school students from local schools for work experience placements. Two of these students also returned to Shirley's laboratory to do work towards their Young Scientist project.

The students subsequently came runner up in the group section of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, finishing in third place overall with their project 'Bioengineering a Biological Airway - A possible treatment for respiratory airway diseases'. They also received the special award from Science Foundation Ireland for
best project in the Biological and Ecological Sciences category.