Dublin City University, as a partner in Food for Health Ireland, is looking to host an experienced researcher via the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Career Fit Plus Programme in Ireland in the area of Immunology. In order to secure the funding from this programme, applicants will develop a proposal with senior academic research leaders in Dublin City University (DCU) and R & D leaders at Glanbia.

Marie Curie Career Fit Plus

Enterprise Ireland’s Marie Curie Career Fit Plus programme is designed to inject new talent and resources in the R&D&I sector in Ireland by recruiting talented researchers from around the world through an open competition to work on market-focused collaborative projects for three years.

Food for Health Ireland Technology Centre

At Food for Health Ireland (FHI), our goal is to enhance health and wellbeing through innovation in food. By combining world-class science with industry expertise, we ensure our industry members stay ahead in the global food market. We have spent more than a decade cultivating an Innovation Ecosystem across Ireland that now brings together leaders in food and health research, industry, policy, marketing and investment. Now in the third phase of our research development, FHI is continuing to improve health through innovation in food. FHI has already successfully placed 12 fellows on this prestigious programme.

Project Description

Building on previously completed research projects which have focussed on the characterisation and validation of immune-modulating bioactives isolated from milk protein, this project would investigate a wide range of protein sources for novel food ingredients that can modulate the immune system. Our previous focus has been on bioactives which can suppress inflammation and allergic responses, however given the growing importance of strong immune health, this project will explore the effects of novel bioactives for improving overall immune function. This includes immune responses to both viruses and bacteria as well as immune balance which influences overall health. During this project we aim to identify from a range of protein sources from our commercial partner, Glanbia Ireland and, some novel bioactives which have the potential to be food ingredients. The project will provide initial proof of principle of the effects of these novel bioactives in the immune system in preclinical models. Based on the outcomes of the research, we will assess the commercial viability of using candidate novel bioactives.

The fellowship has the potential for a postdoctoral scientist to:

- Work with a well-established research team in the area of Immunomodulation, with significant expertise in translation of research into commercial value

- Work at the interface of the fields of Immunology and Nutrition

- Develop advanced competencies in performing a range of immune cell assays and cell analysis technologies

- Work in collaboration with the R&D team in Glanbia Ireland to apply the generated knowledge to new product development

Organisation and People:

Dublin City University

Dublin City University, founded in 1981 is a young, dynamic and ambitious university with a distinctive mission to transform lives and societies through education, research and innovation. Excellence in DCU education and research activities has led to its ranking in the top of 1.5% of universities in the world. The University is consistently ranked among the top young universities globally, appearing in the QS Top 50 under 50, and Times Higher (THE) Top 100 under 50. Competitively won research funding is approximately €38 million per annum, and DCU invests considerable amounts of its resources to develop research infrastructure and support key programmes. DCU is ranked in the top 150 of the most globally-engaged universities in the world. DCU is a member of the prestigious European university network, the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU) and is also a member of the Young European Research Universities Network (YERUN). The DCU International Office promotes an intercultural environment throughout the University and assists international staff and students in relocating to Ireland Over the period 2013-2020, DCU has been involved in 68 H2020 projects, coordinating 22 and acting as partner in another 46, with the total funding value to DCU over €26M. These include 11 MSCA Initial Training Networks (ITNs), seven Research and Innovation Staff Exchange Scheme awards, and 11 individual Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowships.

Professor Christine Loscher, Full Professor of Immunology, DCU

Professor Christine Loscher completed her PhD in Immunology at NUI, Maynooth in 2000 and was awarded a Health Research Board Fellowship to pursue her postdoctoral studies at Trinity College Dublin. In 2003 she moved to the Institute of Molecular Medicine at St James Hospital to continue her research and then was appointed to a permanent academic position at Dublin City University in 2005. She leads the Immunomodulation Research Group at DCU which has a focus on translating how modulation of the immune response has health benefits. Her focus includes discovering new anti- inflammatory/anti-allergic compounds and ingredients that can be used in the pharma and food industry. She is a Principal Investigator in the Food for Health Ireland Technology Centre and she has developed significant expertise in commercial research and industry engagement, securing over €5.5M in external funding for her research. In 2014 she was named in Silicon Republics top 100 Women in STEM and in 2015 she was a speaker at InspireFest. In 2016 she delivered a TEDx talk to communicate her views on the Future of Food and in 2018 she was included in Silicon Republic’s “22 high-flying scientists making the world a better place in 2019”. She is currently the Associate Dean for Research in the Faculty of Science & Health at DCU.

Glanbia Ireland

Glanbia Ireland is an ambitious, integrated agri-food and nutrition business, with a diverse portfolio of quality ingredients, leading consumer and Agri brands. Glanbia Ireland owns leading consumer and Agri brands such as Avonmore, Kilmeaden Cheese, Millac, Premier Milk, Wexford, mymilkman.ie, Glanbiaconnect.com, Countrylife.ie and GAIN Animal Nutrition. It processes a 2.9 billion litre milk pool from 21 counties and exports high quality dairy and Agri ingredients as well as branded products to over 100 countries. Glanbia Ireland is the largest buyer and user of Irish grains, with a state-of-the-art Oats processing facility. Glanbia Ireland is a joint venture 60% owned by Glanbia Co-op and 40% owned by Glanbia plc. With annual revenue of €1.96 billion, Glanbia Ireland has 11 processing plants, 52 Agri branches and over 2,000 employees. https://www.glanbiaireland.com/

All inquiries should be directed to Professor Christine Loscher by email Christine.loscher@dcu.ie