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October 3, 2016
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October 11, 2016
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Webpage:http://www.nuigalway.ie/our-research/people/medicine/eilisdowd/; http://www.nuigalway.ie/medicine-nursing-and-health-sciences/medicine/disciplines/pharmacology/staffprofiles/dreilisdowd/

Research Field
  • cell and developmental biology/regenerative medicine
  • neuroscience and mental health
  • bioengineering/medical devices
My WorkParkinson’s disease is a motor disorder and the main symptoms of the disease are caused by the progressive degenerative of dopamine-containing neurons from a discrete region of the brain. Current therapy only provides relief from the symptoms of the disease - it does not offer a ’cure’, nor does it halt the unrelenting degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons.

Eilís’ research is focused on experimental approaches that offer the possibility of halting the degenerative process or even ’curing’ the disease. These include developing and validating novel neuroprotective or neuroreparative pharmacotherapies, gene therapies, cell therapies or biomaterial therapies.

PubMed link to publications: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=dowd+e+and+(galway+or+cardiff+or+montreal+or+edinburgh)
Outline of Potential Research projectsAnti-inflammatory strategies to ameliorate neurodegeneration.

In recent times there has been an intensification of interest in the pathological role of neuroinflammation in neurodegenerative disease. Neuroprotective strategies to slow, halt or reverse neurodegeneration have not proven fruitful clinically, and the notion of a multi-hit hypothesis in the progression of neurodegenerative disease has steered focus towards other contributory pathological factors, particularly neuroinflammation. Neuroinflammation is believed to sustain the neurodegenerative pathology, forming a cyclical and self-sustaining pathological process, with dying neurons activating microglia, which, once activated, can release several factors that kill further neurons. Indeed, evidence of neuroinflammation has been observed around sites of neuropathological lesions in many neurodegenerative conditions including Parkinson’s disease. With this in mind, the concept of anti-inflammatory therapy for disease-modification in neurodegenerative disease has emerged, with a view to identifying specific, novel targets to reduce inflammation in neurodegeneration. Thus, this project will identify and investigate novel anti-inflammatory targets (in Parkinson’s disease models) that have the potential to break the pathological cycle of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in neurodegenerative disease.