Two senior doctors were yesterday awarded State funding of almost €3 million to conduct research into the onset of schizophrenia in young adults and to examine new ways to prevent and treat TB.
The grants, which are being channelled through the Health Research Board, were announced by Minister for Health Mary Harney.
The research on schizophrenia will be conducted by Dr Mary Cannon, a senior lecturer in psychiatry at the Royal College of Surgeons and a consultant at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.
Her project will monitor the brain development of at-risk young adults through a variety of imaging techniques and psychological assessments, with a view to improving early detection and prevention of schizophrenia.
The TB research, which will look at the development of new treatment and vaccine strategies, will be carried out by Dr Joe Keane, a consultant in respiratory medicine at St James's Hospital in Dublin.
Tuberculosis kills two million people worldwide every year and its incidence has increased in Dublin over the past two years.