Aisling Dunne Associate Professor

Professor Dunne is an Associate Professor with the School of Biochemistry and Immunology and the School of Medicine in Trinity College Dublin. She graduated with a PhD in Biochemistry from TCD and held postdoctoral positions in Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne and TCD. She was also head of Molecular Biology and Protein Biochemistry at Opsona Therapeutics, a biotech company focused on the development of novel Immunotherapeutics.

Prof Dunne’s work to date has focused on endogenous damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) that are associated with a number of sterile inflammatory diseases. Her research group has carried out a significant amount of work delineating the molecular/inflammatory pathways driven by osteoarthritis (OA) and atherosclerosis-associated DAMPs. They have identified potential new therapeutic targets to treat OA-associated inflammation and have now extended their work to assess immune responses to orthopaedic implant materials. Furthermore, as a funded investigator with AMBER, Prof Dunne’s research group is now assessing the ability of novel biomaterials to modulate immune cell metabolism and promote tissue repair. Finally, she has received significant funding to examine novel anti-inflammatory molecules with a particular focus on compounds that can induce the Heme Oxygenase System. She has received funding from the HRB, Enterprise Ireland and SFI.