WHERE WERE YOU BEFORE RECEIVING THIS AWARD?
At the time of receiving this award I had just returned to work from maternity leave. I wanted to start a PhD but as a clinical academic with teaching, hospital, and diagnostic laboratory commitments the main challenges I faced was having the time and the funding to do this. I was also passionate about ‘One Health’ research and wanted to widen my research collaborations but felt that I had little to offer in terms of research experience. My publications were limited to clinical case reports and series.
YOUR RESEARCH PROJECT IN LAY TERMS
Demodex mites are tiny insects that reside in hair follicles and sebaceous glands in a wide range of animals and humans. In veterinary medicine, demodicosis (an overpopulation of Demodex mites) in dogs, can be a serious and potentially life-threatening disease, the pathogenesis of which is poorly understood. In humans, an overpopulation of Demodex mites can be seen in diseases such as rosacea, a chronic skin condition of the face. Currently little is known about the mechanism of immune response to resident Demodex mites and the host–mite relationship. Given that Demodex mites are obligate commensal organisms modulation of the host immune system is assumed. Under normal conditions such modulation is likely to consist of downregulation by mites of the host immune system defences. This project is a unique chance to provide new understanding of the pathogenesis behind these two important and related diseases. The findings of which may translate into changes in current therapies.
HOW ISSF HAS HELPED YOUR RESEARCH CAREER?
The main benefit of receiving the ISSF award is that it has given me confidence in my research and my ability to leverage funding and collaborate with other researchers. The funding allowed me to register and start my PhD which has given me research laboratory exposure and an in depth understanding of grant and ethics applications, budget management and research staff management.
TANGIBLE OUTPUTS AS A RESULT OF RECEIVING THE AWARD
Since obtaining the ISSF award I have leveraged ¤159,476 in funding as the principal investigator and ¤796,918 as a coapplicant. I have also published 9 research articles in peer reviewed high impact journals.
WHAT DID THE AWARD MEAN TO YOU PERSONALLY?
The ISSF award has really helped me to believe in myself. It gave me validation as an early-stage researcher, and it gave me the confidence to know that I was on the right path to developing my research career. It has been a great motivator and has given me the confidence to network and collaborate with researchers in Ireland and internationally and to apply for external funding as the PI. While I am still completing my PhD, I know when I have obtained it that the ISSF award will continue to help me as I apply for further grants.