The NCRC wishes to congratulate Dr. Sarah Doyle, who was recently awarded a 2019 International Cytokine & Interferon Society (ICIS) Milstein Young Investigator Award for her project “Interleukin-18 alters cellular organization in choroidal neovascular lesions”. Every year through the philanthropic donations of the Milstein family, the ICIS awards young investigators who have made a major contribution to interferon and cytokine research early in their career.
Dr. Doyle is currently funded through the NCRC’s Paediatric Research Project Grant scheme for two projects. Both projects involve research into interferon and cytokine responses in infants and children. One project aims to improve vaccine responses in the paediatric population by promoting an optimal cytokine/interferon cocktail that boosts infants’ immune responses. The other project is a collaboration with Professor Alan Irvine and aims to understand the role of IL-1 family cytokines, such as IL-18, in Regulating Skin Barrier Function in Childhood Atopic Dermatitis. She is also a co-PI with Dr. Colin McMahon on an NCRC Innovation award for research in coronary artery aneurysm formation in children with Kawasaki Disease. Dr Doyle and Dr. Kiva Brennan, a senior postdoctoral researcher in the Doyle lab, will be presenting NCRC and SFI funded research at the ICIS conference this October.