Introduction- Spring 2023

Time does seem to go very fast sometimes – who’d have thought that it’s now 20 years since a few of us at UCC and Teagasc Moorepark got together to form what is now APC Microbiome Ireland. We plan to mark this event throughout the year at events like World Microbiome Day and of course our main Symposium in October. Already this year is shaping up to be a really successful one for APC with new industry partnerships in the offing and some high-impact publications including one recently published in Nature led by Jens Walter

In this newsletter, we celebrate some great success from our researchers including the election of APC-associated researchers Drs Maria Aburto and Yensi Flores Bueso to the Young Academy of Ireland who will join our 4 PI full members (and 2 former PI members) as part of the Royal Irish Academy. APC also featured very prominently at the recent UCC SPRINT awards for young entrepreneurs, scooping half of the 4 awards – Congrats to Drs Siobhan O’Mahony and Julie O Sullivan. The “power of the microbiome” message is really getting out and during this time APC people have featured regularly on radio (including Drivetime and Newstalk) and in print on topics including Crohn’s and colitis, antimicrobial resistance and Long Covid.

Timing is everything – so these successes come at a time of great opportunity for APC with the launch of UCC Futures and particularly in the area of Food, Microbiome and Heath. As part of this programme we are currently recruiting 2 lectureships in microbiome and health and a senior lecturer in microbiome science – the latter with the School of Microbiology to support a future Masters programme in microbiome science. This is on top of the recent recruitment of Professor Marietta Iacucci, a renowned expert in medical/gut imaging integrated with ‘omics’ analysis for precision medicine. It has been a bountiful period also with regard to grant successes where APC has continued its funding success in Europe and particularly at ERC level.

So as we head into the Summer and better weather have a quick read below as to what we have been up to at APC!!!

Yours,

Paul