Fighting Blindness Honours Emerging Retinal Researcher at Trinity Neuroscience Research Day

Fighting Blindness was proud to sponsor a poster prize at the Trinity Neuroscience Research Day, held on 4 June 2025 at Trinity College Dublin.

Hosted by the Trinity College Dublin Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN), this event brought together leading experts and early-career scientists in the field to showcase the latest advances in neuroscience research.

As part of our ongoing commitment to support cutting-edge retinal research, Fighting Blindness awarded a prize for the Best Scientific Poster in Retinal Research at the event. We are delighted to say this prize was awarded to Dara O’Boyle, who gave a standout presentation of his work titled “Natural Killer Cell and Macrophage Interactions in Age-related Macular Degeneration”.

Dara O’Boyle, PhD student at the TCIN, with his prize-winning scientific research poster.

Dara is a second-year PhD student at the TCIN, under the supervision of Professor Sarah Doyle. His research focuses on Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and how the immune system influences the progression of AMD. He is particularly interested in how different immune cells interact with one another in the retina, and whether these interactions could be targeted to develop new treatments for AMD.

Dara provided Fighting Blindness with an overview of his research focus:

AMD is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. It damages the macula, the part of the retina responsible for detailed vision, and can have a huge impact on quality of life. While we know that the immune system plays an important role in AMD, we don’t fully understand how different immune cells behave or interact during the disease.

In my research, I study two immune cell types: macrophages, which clean up damage and debris, and natural killer cells, which target stressed or harmful cells for destruction. My research is at a very early stage, but using patient samples and models of AMD I hope it will help improve our understanding of how these immune cells interact during AMD and uncover new avenues to target therapeutically.

Prize winner, Dara O’Boyle, standing with Dr Shannon Lee, Fighting Blindness Research Officer.

This important research contributes to the broader effort to find treatments and cures for sight loss conditions, aligning closely with the mission of Fighting Blindness.

In addition to a wide array of impressive poster presentations, the event also featured a series of compelling talks from early-stage researchers and leading figures in neuroscience. Among the notable speakers was Professor Matthew Campbell, whose research into the blood-brain and inner blood-retina barriers has significant implications for understanding eye disease. His innovative work forms a key part of the EYE-D project, co-funded by Fighting Blindness. You can learn more about this important initiative here.

We were delighted to see retinal research so well represented at this event and to support the next generation of scientists working to transform outcomes for people living with vision loss.

Fighting Blindness would like to thank Trinity College Dublin and the organising team for hosting this inspiring event. We congratulate all the oral and poster presenters on their exciting work!