Trinity Scientist Wins European Research Grant to Study Brain Repair

A Trinity College scientist won a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant to pursue research aimed at gaining a better understanding of brain disorders and repair. Michael-John Dolan, PhD, an assistant professor in the school of genetics and microbiology at Trinity College Dublin, will focus on microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells, which can form distinct subtypes, or states, especially during brain damage, disease, or repair.

While microglia are crucial for regulating neuroinflammation and brain repair, these states are poorly understood.

This project is expected to fill this gap by using molecular and genomic tools to create a detailed map of how these states change over time. Building on this, the team will investigate the emergence and function of a microglial subtype that interacts with the peripheral immune system, and finally, develop methods to control and inactivate any microglial state to reveal the neurobiological function of these poorly understood subtypes.

The team will focus on brain repair as a model system, with the ultimate goal of harnessing microglial states to rejuvenate and arrest neuropathology. Because microglia have been implicated in many neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders including Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis, the datasets, tools, and insights will be applicable to the study of brain disorders.

“I am thrilled to be an ERC awardee and grateful to all my mentors and trainees for their support, in addition to Trinity’s fantastic Research Development Office,” said Dolan. “This award comes at a pivotal time for me, having just moved back to Ireland to start my group.”