Trinity College Dublin (TCD)
Trinity College Dublin was founded by royal charter in 1592 and today has over 18,000 students; 13,087 undergraduates and 4,994 postgraduates. Positioned in the heart of Ireland’s capital city, Trinity is recognised as Irelands No. 1 university (QS World University Rankings) with a research funding income of over €100 million per annum. Trinity College Dublin is a member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU), a network of 23 leading universities in Europe.
Trinity’s BIND partner is the research group of Prof. Vincent P. Kelly (VPK) in the School of Biochemistry & Immunology. The VPK group has a long-standing interest in the study of micronutrients and RNA biology and their therapeutic application to the treatment of a range of human diseases including cancer, infertility and autoimmunity. Of particular relevance to the BIND Program is our ongoing work in Multiple Sclerosis wherein we are using an RNA-based approach to quell the immune-mediated neuropathology.
The VPK group also run the Transgenic facility in Trinity College Dublin, a €3.8 million, 250 sqM state-of-the-art resource that generates and manages genetically altered animals on behalf of Irish researchers. Working closely with Transpharmation Ireland, the VPK group will be providing their transgenic-based expertise for the management and therapeutic dosing of a number of animal models of Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy.
Website
Team
Vincent P. Kelly
Position in Organisation
Associate Professor in the School of Biochemistry & Immunology,
Profile
Vincent P. Kelly is an associate professor in the School of Biochemistry & Immunology, who will be providing oversight on the animal therapeutic aspects of the BIND project. Prior to joining Trinity, VPK was employed in Banyu Pharmaceutics, Japan and as a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Prof. Masayuki Yamamoto, University of Tsukuba, Japan. He received his PhD from the University of Dundee in Scotland. VPK’s research interest is in the area of RNA biology and in understanding and application of micronutrients to the treatment of human disease. His research led to the establishment of Azadyne Ltd., of which he is a co-founder and scientific advisor. VPK is also the Director of Transgenics in Trinity College Dublin, having established the facility in 2011.
Claire Fergus
Position in Organisation
Claire Fergus is a post-doctoral researcher in the Transgenic facility, who will be managing the establishment of a number of animal models of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy for the BIND project and conducting the therepeutic dosing. CF has been a post-doctoral researcher for the Transgenic Facility, exploiting the CRISPR/Cas9 system for the generation of genetically altered animals, since 2017. More recently, she has also been managing the operations of the Transgenic facility to provide genetically altered animal models to researchers across the island of Ireland. Previous to this, CF received her PhD from the School of Biochemistry & Immunology, Trinity College Dublin. CF has extensive research expertise in RNA biology, genetic and molecular biology techniques and mouse transgenics.
