Dr. Michael-John Dolan has won a highly prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants to conduct research aimed at uncovering the secrets of brain disease and recovery.
Dr. Dolan’s research will focus on microglia, the brain’s immune cells, which can form different subtypes or ‘states’ – especially during brain damage, disease or recovery. Although microglia are crucial for regulating neuroinflammation and brain repair, these states are currently poorly understood.
This project will fill this gap by using advanced 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 monitor and inactivate each 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 are involved in many neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis, the datasets, tools, and insights will be broadly applicable to the study of brain disorders.
I am thrilled to be an ERC winner and am grateful to all my mentors and trainees for their support, in addition to Trinity’s fantastic Research Development Office. This award comes at a crucial time for me as I have just returned to Ireland to establish my group. This ERC grant will be the platform on which my laboratory will build and enable us to take an ambitious new direction in neuroimmunology.”
Dr. Michael-John Dolan, Assistant Professor, Trinity’s School of Genetics and Microbiology
ERC Starting Grants are funded from the EU’s Horizon Europe program to enable excellent scientists, with up to seven years of postdoctoral experience, to pursue their most promising ideas. The funds also enable recipients to significantly expand their research teams over the five-year duration of the projects they support.