UCC-based expert in gut health named SFI researcher of the year for 2023

A world-renowned scientist specialising in diet research and gut health at University College Cork, Prof Paul Ross, has been named Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) researcher of the year for 2023.

“Paul Ross has been an outstanding researcher in the field of food health and gut health for many years, both in previous roles and in his current position as director of the SFI Research Centre APC Microbiome Ireland,” said SFI director general Prof Philip Nolan.

The winners of the SFI awards were announced at the annual research Summit in Cork hosted by SFI and the Irish Research Council.

Congratulating all the winners, Prof Nolan added: “Through their innovation, creativity and tireless work, these researchers have striven to improve the world around them. SFI is delighted to recognise their efforts and achievements with these prestigious accolades.”

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Prof Ross has received international acclaim for research on antibacterial compounds. His research is in food microbiology, with a focus on physiology and genetics of lactic acid bacteria and their applications in food and pharma. He said he was “so fortunate to have worked with really brilliant scientists down through the years – great collaborators, researchers and students – and it is really on their behalf that I accept this award”.

He said he had always been fascinated by the microbial world in which we live and depend on so much. “Most of this world is inhabited by diverse communities of microorganisms or microbiomes, as exemplified by the trillions of bacteria that live in our gut. Our research strives to find microbiome-based solutions to address some of the grand challenges society is facing right now,” he said.

One such example was the build-up of antimicrobial resistance in harmful bacteria; “to this end, our lab has had some success in finding antibiotic alternatives. There is huge excitement in our ranks, as we can see that we are at the precipice for what microbes and microbiomes can offer in this huge challenge”.

His lab is currently working on a €2.5 million European Research Council project exploring the potential for the naturally occurring antimicrobial peptide, specifically bacteriocins, for development of new therapies to tackle infectious disease.

The SFI Early Career Researcher award went to Dr Sarah Guerin based at the University of Limerick. Her research focuses on modelling and growing crystals for use in areas such as eco-friendly sensing and pharmaceuticals. Her research has led to significant breakthroughs with potential for use in medical implants and drug-delivery devices.

The SFI commercialisation award went to Prof Steve Kerrigan of RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences. In 2021, he founded Inthelia Therapeutics, a spin-out, clinical-stage pharmaceutical company which aims to develop personalised therapeutic approaches to treat patients with sepsis – a leading cause of death worldwide, causing over 15 million deaths every year.

Prof Edward Curry of University of Galway won the international engagement award. He specialises in data science and is director of the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics. He was a key architect in designing and creating two “triple-helix European Partnerships between industry, research/academia, and the European Commission” on big data and AI and robotics, providing the roadmap for the EU over the past decade.

The SFI Outstanding Contribution to STEM Communication award went to Blackrock Castle Observatory in Cork. Munster Technological University’s (MTU) Blackrock Castle Observatory has been championing scientific literacy, communicating STEM through the inspirational themes of astronomy and space for 16 years. Over that time, more than 1.3 million people have visited the facility.

A new SFI Award for supporting green transition was given to Dr Una Fitzgerald of University of Galway, an Investigator in CÚRAM, the SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices, who is a leading voice in the national movement of “greening” research laboratories. Her laboratory was the first in Europe to be green lab-certified. She is chairperson for Irish Green Labs, a network of Irish labs that share case studies and best practice in lab sustainability.

The 2023 partnership award was given to Prof Frank Peters of the Irish Photonics Integration Centre in partnership with Rockley Photonics and the Tyndall National Institute. He has over 30 years’ experience in photonic research, including 12 years in industry, filing more than 80 patents. He has been part of three start-ups including most recently Rockley Photonics and the creation of its Irish research division.

Prof Anne Marie Healy of Trinity College Dublin won the mentorship award. She a codirector of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Transformative Pharmaceutical Technologies and has graduated 20 PhD students and mentored 25 postdoctoral researchers.

The SFI Engaged Research of the Year award went to Prof Andy Way and the SignON project which aims to bridge the communication gap between deaf, hard of hearing (DHH) and hearing people. It focuses on development of the SignON communication service using machine translation to translate between sign and spoken languages.

It represents a shift in the field of sign language technologies, offering an inclusive, co-created, and ethically responsible solution to the historical challenge of communication between signers and non-signers. This project is based in the ADAPT SFI Research Centre for AI-driven Digital Content Technology in DCU.

The SFI research image of the year recipient was Elin Strachan, a PhD student at University College Dublin. Her image displays the head, and specifically the eye, of a five-day-old zebrafish larva. The blue stain shows the cell nuclei, whilst the green labelling are the mitochondria within the animal’s optic nerve, which relays information from the eye to the brain.

In her lab, fish are used to better understand inherited diseases of the eye, due to how well developed the visual system is in such early stages of fish development and how closely their eyes resemble our own.