Researchers Receive Enterprise Ireland Grant for Natural Killer Cell Project
A two-year project led by David Finlay from Trinity College Dublin will collaborate with ONK Therapeutics of Galway to explore how Natural Killer (NK) cell metabolism could be manipulated to improve NK cell-based anti-cancer immunotherapies. NK cells are innate lymphocytes with important anti-cancer functions. NK cell-based immunotherapy has become a promising approach to cancer therapy in recent years for solid tumours and haematological malignancies.
Finlay said that he is taking an “innovative approach to developing improved cellular therapies to treat cancer, in particular solid tumours.” He aims to edit NK cells through CRISPR deletion or overexpression to achieve this goal. Finlay is as associate professor in Immunometabolism whose research is at the forefront of the field.
The research project has been granted funding by Enterprise Ireland through its Innovation Partnership Programme. The grant will allow for important research to be conducted in the promising area of NK cells. It will also mean that the project will be able to take on two more postdoctoral scientists into the research group over the two years.
The Innovation Partnership Programme promotes collaboration between Irish Higher Education Institutes and companies to address technical challenges. It is one of the many programs available for companies undertaking important research and development work. Such companies may also be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit Scheme managed by Revenue.
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