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Full NameProfessor Eilis Dowd
Pharmacology & Therapeutics
University of Galway
Webpage:nuigalway.ie
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- cell and developmental biology/regenerative medicine
- neuroscience and mental health
- Medicine
- Surgery
- Dementia
- Immunology
- Neurology
- Neurophysiology
- Pharmacology
- Physiology
Dr Eilís Dowd’s research is focused on developing and validating novel pharmacological, cell, gene and biomaterial therapies for Parkinson’s disease (PD). PD is a chronic and debilitating brain condition which affects millions of people worldwide. The main symptoms of the disease are related to loss of movement control caused by degeneration and death of the nigrostriatal population of dopaminergic neurons. One promising approach for the treatment of PD that is of particular interest to the Dowd group is cellular brain repair whereby the cells that have died in the condition are replaced by transplantation of healthy cells into the brain. However, this approach has faced several limitations including poor survival of the transplanted cells in the PD brain.
To address this limitation, the Dowd group has recently shown that biomaterials - that is, materials that have been specifically engineered to interact with living systems for therapeutic purposes – have the potential to dramatically improve cellular brain repair for PD. Specifically, when the brain cells were encapsulated in a biomaterial before transplantation into the (rat) PD brain, the survival of the cells was dramatically improved, and this enhanced healing and recovery of movement control. Indeed, this research was described by the BBC Science Focus Magazine as one of “five incredible advances in brain disease treatment”. Ongoing work in the Dowd group, funded by the EU and Michael J Fox Foundation, aims to continue and extend these previous findings.
Ultimately, if we can show that the biomaterials can improve the brain repair and movement control provided by transplanted cells. then future clinical trials of these cells should move towards including biomaterials in the transplantation approach as this could lead to a dramatic improvement in the outcome for patients.