IRISH RESEARCHER DR Colm J Ryan has been announced as the recipient of the Sir Henry Wellcome Research Fellowship fund worth €300,000.

It offers funding opportunities for young researchers who are in the final year of their PhD studies or have no more than one year of postdoctoral research experience.

Dr Ryan’s research at UCD will focus on the progression of cancer treatments through the identification of genetic vulnerabilities in cancer cells.

A major challenge in cancer therapeutics is to kill tumour cells without harming other cells in the body.

This cancer research will focus on understanding how genetic differences between tumour cells and healthy cells can be exploited to address this challenge.

Dr Ryan said:

I am delighted to be awarded this fellowship as it offers me the freedom and financial support to research why a particular type of personalised cancer treatment, known as synthetic lethality, might work in some individuals but not in others.

“During the fellowship I will collaborate with some of the leading experts in the field, in labs in multiple countries, to address this important question.”

Chief Executive at the Health Research Board Dr Graham Love said, “Personalised medicine is a hot, promising field.

Hats off to Colm for coming through a gruelling selection process. His success highlights the level of research talent here in Ireland.

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