While Prof Lynch is at one end of the aging-spectrum, researchers in Galway are looking focusing on the other end, and trying to figure out how aberrant neuro-immune responses can contribute to psychiatric problems from birth.
O’Mahony and colleagues may be able to help develop new treatments for psychiatric and gastrointestinal disorders.
The Irish Council for Bioethics was established in 2002 as an independent, autonomous body to consider the ethical issues Blaming it on your raised by developments in parents… science and medicine. In 2010, Pregnant women supposedly thanks to the economic crises, have crazy hormones. It’s all the Council ceased to operate. too easy to blame their mood Most people in Ireland were changes on hormones. And probably unaware of this fact, oftentimes offensive. But you’d given the huge economic crises At NUI Galway Dr David Finn heads Ireland’s Centre for Pain rarely blame their children’s facing the country. You may Research. mood-swings on pregnancy wonder why research oversight hormones. Yet, it’s possible that is important. Does it matter stress-related hormone changes during pregnancy may lead to that unlike the US, Japan, Canada or other European countries, lasting neuropsychiatric problems in children. Ireland has no oversight body for research? In the field of developmental neuroscience, it’s common Well, if you were asked would you bank your bucks in knowledge that if you stress a mom, her offspring will have all a country that had no national banking oversight, then it’d kinds of behavioural abnormalities. But what’s not clear is how probably take you less than a split-second for you to stick your this stress-process works and what we can do to reduce these wallet back in your pocket, and say no. In essence by failing to behavioral changes. legislate or regulate research, particularly research on sensitive Cork based researcher Dr Siobhain O’Mahony, recently won topics such as human tissues, or stem cells, then we may be the prestigious internationally recognized ‘Ray Clouse Award putting off international research investors. for Paper Most Cited’ given by the Rome Society for her work You might also think it’s a little odd to spend about €46 on maternal-stress related changes in offspring. million on HRB funded research and €162m on SFI funded Dr O’Mahony, who works at the Alimentary Pharmabiotic research, or approximately €200 million per year in total, on Centre (APC) in Cork did a study looking at how separating research aimed at stimulating investment by international moms and pups can affect the pups immune system and companies, in the absence of ethics oversight, or legislation on hormonal responses as they grew older. Her findings, published research, such as the use of human embryonic stem cells for in Biological Psychiatry, were that maternal stress increased example. stress hormone levels and responses In 2010, in its final report, the Dr Siobhain O’Mahony at the APC in Cork found to bacterial immune challenges in Bioethics council stated, that “a failure to that offspring are influenced by maternal stress. offspring. The co-authors of her study provide a comprehensive and cohesive included Professors John Cryan, regulatory system to govern stem cell Timothy Dinan, Eamonn Quigley, Drs research and its application undermines Julian Marchesi, Paul Scully, Caroline the moral value of the human embryo. Codling and Anne-Marie Coelho. It may also hinder developments in this Previously her group had also found field of research in Ireland.” changes in serotonin, which is the Back in 2005 the same council found key mood-regulating chemical in our that over half of Irish people would use brains, after maternal stress. Altogether, new treatments for diseases developed her findings suggest that one reason using embryonic stem cell research, and children may have mood-related believed that the government should psychiatric changes after maternal stress support embryonic stem cell research. is because their immune systems are Yet, despite this favourable response, differently formed, and may become six years later the government h