Members of the Respiratory Research Department in the Education and Research Centre in Beaumont Hospital were recently awarded ‘Research Paper of the Year’ for their paper, ‘The Circulating Proteinase Inhibitor a-1 Antitrypsin Regulates Neutrophil Degranulation and Autoimmunity’. The team, led by Professor Gerry McElvaney, received their award at the Irish Healthcare Awards last Thursday night. The paper was published in the journal, Science Translational Medicine last year.

The research findings showed how the protein Alpha-1 Antitrypsin (AAT) plays an important role in controlling inflammation from white blood cells and its importance for good health.

Professor McElvaney and Dr Emer Reeves, Respiratory Research at the Irish Healthcare Awards

Congratulations to Professor McElvaney and to all involved in this  paper, particularly lead co-authors of the study, Dr Emer Reeves and Dr David Bergin, as well as RCSI PhD and medical undergraduate students Killian Hurley, Rebecca Wolfe, Ramia Jameel and Sean Fitzgerald. The research was supported by the Medical Research Charities Group / Health Research Board, the Alpha One Foundation (Ireland) and the Alpha-1 Foundation (USA).