Niamh Troy has recently completed her PhD at the Wal-yan Respiratory Centre, Telethon Kids Institute and the University of Western Australia. Niamh’s PhD research provides strong rationale for how we can harness babies’ innate immune systems using bacterial medications to protect against lung infections and potentially prevent asthma.
Niamh’s research interests lie in understanding the role of the innate immune system (and inflammation) in chronic diseases and aims to combine basic discovery science with translational research to drive better outcomes in child health.
Her journey with Telethon Kids started as a Research Assistant in the Wal-yan Respiratory Centre after a similar position in Dublin that sparked an interest in research and biomedical science.
I'll do this for a year. There are great people, I like the project and the environment is supportive. And then it just went from there. I got more and more I got into it after two years, I loved it, I decided I was going to do my PhD.
And she has never looked back. Niamh was the co-winner of the PhD Scientist of the Year Award at the Premier’s Science Awards 2021 and was named a “Rising Star” of 2022 by The West Australian. She is a STEM ambassador with the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation, a public-engagement role for the promotion of STEM in WA.
Her research uses cutting-edge bioinformatics to better understand the immune response to respiratory viral infections – and her awarded funds will inspire new big ideas for the next step.
All my skills are around understanding the immune system in chronic disease, so that's the launchpad I'm going to try and jump from.
First published Tuesday 21 June 2022.
What is the next logical step for your research?
During my thesis, we've looked at the effect of treatment on the immune system in the first winter of life. From this we have a big outstanding question, are those protective effects sustained into the second year of treatment. So that's the natural progression.
And then the other thing I'm looking at is a single cell approach. We've done sequencing on mixed cell populations to all the immune cells. Meaning we have looked at all the immune cells together in bulk. But now I am thinking can we tease out the individual cell types and understand what cells are affected by treatment. This will lead to personalised medicine and creation targeted approaches for therapy for babies, so that they have the best chance of leading happy, healthy lives.
But in saying this, I am just beginning my career, it's very, very early in the game, so I have to really think.
How will flexible funding through the Illuminate Awards support your career?
Flexible funding is amazing. I feel like I now have the ability to really demonstrate that there is an opportunity to have impact elsewhere and that funding would be great in that space.
It has given me the opportunity to breathe and explore my options.
I never want to go for the low hanging fruit, but I know that's always a good place to get started when you're going to change into a new field. This new area of interest will require interstate collaborations, as no one at Telethon Kids or in WA is doing it- I am keeping it quite close to chest at the moment.
I need to have deeper conversations with key people to see what’s going to be a feasible approach. Bringing a new area of research and building a team around me at any institute is no small feat.
If I cannot get that going soon, the money will still be well spent on the next stage of my Asthma project which I am also very passionate about.
Let’s work together
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Simmone Sharp
Philanthropy Manager - Major Gifts
Email: simmone.sharp@telethonkids.org.au
Patrice Maher
Major Gifts Officer
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Email: patrice.maher@telethonkids.org.au