Doctor gets €600,000 for asthma research

A DUBLIN consultant has been awarded €600,000 for his work in helping to find a cure for asthma.

Dr Conor Burke, who is based at the department of respiratory medicine, Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown received the grant yesterday from the Gabriel Project, an EC-funded asthma research venture.

The award was made following a European-wide competition.

The team at Connolly Hospital hope the research will help identify how genes and the environment contribute to the development of asthma. They hope to identify both risk and protective factors, with the long-term aim of preventing the illness. More than 470,000 people suffer from asthma in Ireland and at least one person a week dies of it.

Speaking at the award ceremony yesterday, Prof Bill Cookson, of Imperial College London and co-ordinator of the Gabriel Project, said Dr Burke and his team had an outstanding track record. Ireland was an outstanding place to carry out medical research because the Irish Government had put a huge amount of work into developing the knowledge economy, he said.

Dr Burke said he was delighted his department had won the award and the collaboration would provide opportunities for young doctors and scientists in Ireland.

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan, who was present for the award, said it was great news for Blanchardstown. “It is important to emphasise that there are very good things happening in this country, it’s a very productive economy with a lot of success stories, this is one of them,” he said.