UCD Conway Festival gold medal award to Dr Carlos Matellan
Posted 24 October, 2024
Dr Carlos Matellan has received the UCD Conway Festival Gold Medal for his efforts to reduce the health risk caused by inflammation in those with gut conditions such as Crohn's disease.
A postdoctoral fellow at the UCD Conway Institute, Dr Matellan’s anti-inflammatory research aims to prevent the body from damaging itself by causing by too much inflammation.
Examining a gut protein called TWEAK that makes certain cells called fibroblast act in a way that can worsen inflammation.
When TWEAK interacts with these cells, they begin signalling the immune system to cause more inflammation.
This effect is like what happens to those with conditions such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, types of gut diseases that cause a lot of discomfort.
The research, (opens in a new window)published in the Journal of Immunology, also found that when fibroblasts are affected by TWEAK, they also change how they talk to other cells called monocytes. These monocytes then also start causing more inflammation, making the problem even worse.
Describing the significance of the findings, Dr Matellan said by understanding how TWEAK works “we may be able to find new medicines to stop these cells from making inflammation worse in the future”.
“This could help people with gut diseases like Crohn's to feel better and prevent the damage caused by too much inflammation.”
Pictured (L-R): Dr Stephen Lalor and competition runners up: Tanwi Vartak, Cosmin Tudose, Dr Carlos Matellan, and Ruth Haverty (Hannah Brown not pictured)
(opens in a new window)Professor Helen Roche, Director, UCD Conway Institute congratulated Dr Matellan on winning the Festival Gold Medal for his work, saying it was “exciting to see the potential of this protein as a therapeutic target to alleviate the symptoms of inflammation for patients living with inflammatory bowel disease”.
Dr Carlos Matellan was awarded the Gold Medal, which is sponsored by (opens in a new window)Cruinn Diagnostics, at the closing ceremony of the 2024 UCD Conway Festival of Research and Innovation.
He is supervised jointly by Conway Fellows, (opens in a new window)Dr Mario Manresa and (opens in a new window)Dr Stephen Thorpe, both affiliated to UCD School of Medicine and UCD Conway Institute.
He was one of five early career researchers shortlisted for the prize.
Dr Mario Manresa, UCD School of Biomolecular & Biomedical Science; Professor Helen Roche, Director, UCD Conway Institute; Dr Carlos Matellan, and Dr Stephen Thorpe, UCD School of Medicine
The others were Tanwi Vartek (PI: Dr Eoin Brennan) from the UCD School of Medicine, Hannah Brown and Ruth Haverty (PI: Dr Nicola Fletcher) from the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine; and Cosmin Tudose (PI: Prof. Walter Kolch, UCD School of Medicine and Director, Systems Biology Ireland).
In 2023, Dr Matellan was one of four early-career researchers who were awarded ‘Medals of Excellence’ by the Irish Research Council.
He received the Thomas Mitchell Medal of Excellence for being the top-ranked postdoctoral researcher in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics category.
By: David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations (with materials from Elaine Quinn, UCD Conway Institute)
