News
APC’s Profs Nolan and O’Leary win EU funding Gut-Brain Ageing Research
APC researchers Professor Yvonne Nolan and Professor Olivia O’Leary awarded European funding to investigate lifestyle interventions for healthy gut and brain ageing in people with depression.
As partners on a European consortium across six countries, Professors Nolan and O’Leary will investigate if certain lifestyle interventions prevent cognitive deficits in older aged people with depressive symptoms.
They received €330K in funding from the Health Research Board (HRB) who are the Irish funding partner on the €1.7M project under the umbrella of the Partnership Fostering a European Research Area for Health (ERA4Health).
The overall aim of the project is to identify immuno-metabolic, gut microbiome and nutritional signatures associated with cognitive brain ageing, which can then be leveraged to develop strategies to lower the risk of cognitive impairment in people with depression.
Professors Nolan and O’Leary expertise in behaviours, hippocampal neurogenesis, inflammation and gut-brain-axis will be used to provide insights on the role of gut microbiota in the effects of diet, exercise or cognitive interventions on cognition and mood in older aged people with depression.
Yvonne Nolan is a Professor in Anatomy and Neuroscience, Funded Investigator in APC Microbiome Ireland and Vice Dean of Graduate Studies in the College of Medicine and Health at University College Cork.
Professor Olivia O'Leary is Director of the BSc Neuroscience Programme, and a Principal Investigator in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience and a funded Investigator in APC Microbiome Ireland at University College Cork.
