APC Microbiome Ireland - Reports

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10468/17125

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    APC Microbiome Ireland - 20 years of impact
    (APC Microbiome Ireland, 2023-12) Hogan, David; Science Foundation Ireland
    In the 20 years since our foundation, APC Microbiome Ireland (APC) has had a profound and pioneering impact on the world of microbiome research. And our focus on such major societal challenges as chronic and infectious disease, anti-microbial resistance and sustainable food development means that our ground breaking scientific research has huge relevance to human and planetary health. We have published thousands of papers on excellent science – on average a publication per day each year. We have pioneered new directions of research into microbes and the brain, inflammatory bowel disease and early-life and elderly nutrition. We have discovered thousands of new species of microbes that will underpin medical treatments and will protect foods of the future, displacing antibiotics and increasing sustainability. We have spun out companies that are translating these discoveries to the clinic and market. The depth of our science and our focus on solutions makes APC a household name in microbiome research. Our researchers are recognised as being among the most highly cited and influential in the world. Industry and academics around the world - from Ireland to New Zealand and back - want to work with us, and our science communication and public engagement bring our discoveries into conversations in media, schools and homes. By understanding the composition and structures of the microbiomes in, on and around us, APC is developing new and sustainable tools and approaches to optimising those malleable microbiome communities to support global sustainability and health from infancy to old age. And the common denominator underpinning this scientific excellence is our people. At APC we are a family of like-minded and passionate experts working on a world full of microbes. I congratulate our APC family on the last 20 years and look forward to our coming decades of further excellence and impact, mobilising microbes for planet and people health.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    APC Microbiome Ireland - 15 years of impact
    (APC Microbiome Ireland, 2018-12) Hogan, David; Science Foundation Ireland
    Ambitious, dynamic, transdisciplinary, APC Microbiome Ireland (APC) is a flagship Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Research Centre…and much more. It is a global leader in microbiome science and an agent of change. From the outset the APC has adhered to its mission: ‘Linking Irish science with industry and society through excellence in research, education and public engagement in gastrointestinal health’. Impact has been wide-ranging and includes economic growth, development of human skills, scientific and medical discovery with translation to new medical and dietary therapy, public health policy, and societal engagement. APC investigates the microscopic organisms (microbes) that live in and on the body in health and disease. This community of microbes (microbiota) includes bacteria, yeasts and viruses which are beneficial and necessary for optimal human development but may occasionally represent a risk for development of disease in susceptible individuals. APC has pursued three main lines of scientific pursuit: firstly, to develop new diagnostics or biomarkers of health or risk of disease based on analysis of the microbiota; secondly, to explore mechanisms by which the microbiota may be favourably mobilised or manipulated; and thirdly to ‘mine’ the microbiota for new drugs and/or functional food ingredients. In addition to research, APC trains the next generation of scientists to become the industry and academic leaders of tomorrow. APC encourages the general public, including students from 1st to 4th level, to think scientifically and to engage in scientific debate of societal relevance. Since its foundation in 2003, APC has leveraged four successive phases of seed funding from SFI to attract additional investment from industry collaborators and funding sources including the European Union, and philanthropy. Simply stated, for every €1 of core investment by SFI, the APC has realised an additional €1.84 externally. This multiplier effect – a doubling of taxpayer investment – is a rarity in any field of public endeavour. Indeed, when economic hardship struck Ireland a decade ago, our scientists delivered and APC flourished. This report is an acknowledgement of government support for research and human capital development. It is testimony to the achievements of a dedicated group of scientists, and provides an overview of the economic, scientific, human capital and societal impacts of APC Microbiome Ireland. We intend it to serve as a benchmark for the future.