Press Release
Ireland gets Atkins back
US-based genetics professor recruited to take a leading role back home
The Scientist
December 8, 2003
By Amanda Haverty
Ireland's national science foundation wants to pave the way for a bright
scientific future for the country and has just recruited a key figure to
help lead the way.
John F. Atkins, research professor of human genetics at the University
of Utah, is the second ever recipient of a Science Foundation Ireland
(SFI) Research Professor Fellowship for University College Cork (UCC).
The SFI research professorships program is designed to help Irish
research bodies attract outstanding researchers to their institutions
from outside the state.
SFI will provide funding of €3.2 million over 5 years to support Atkins
and his research team. He will be based at the BioSciences Institute at
UCC, where he served as a lecturer in the early 1980s.
Atkins will be pursuing research programs on both sides of the Atlantic.
He told The Scientist that he will be continuing with existing
commitments in Salt Lake City while developing new projects in Cork.
His research involves investigating frameshift sequences in mammalian
genomes and exploring the mechanisms involved and their biological
consequences.
The researcher originally hails from Ireland and said the appointment
came at an exciting time for science in the country as the government
seeks to prioritize science and technology as part of their plans to
develop a knowledge economy.
“I have to say that I'm delighted that science is being taken more
seriously in Ireland, and becoming more central to the development of
the country. SFI is providing me a wonderful opportunity to go back to
Ireland and become part of the work that's going on there. I'm very keen
to do what I can,” he said.
The appointment was welcomed by Irish Research Scientists Association
Chairman John Donovan, who told The Scientist he was delighted: “John
Atkins is a very well known and respected researcher of international
standing.”
Donovan said the appointment had implications beyond the benefit to UCC
and would bring the country closer to EU targets for research investment
set in April this year: “This needs to be seen in the light of the
Barcelona target of 3% of GDP/GNP [gross domestic product/gross net
product] on R&D [research and development] by 2010. Ireland needs 7000
new researchers to have the infrastructure to utilize that amount of
money.
“These kind of appointments can be magnets for young researchers in the
future,” he added
Atkins will take up his post in UCC in March 2004 investigating
consequences for protein synthesis of nonstandard genetic decoding and
its implications for human disease. His research could influence future
treatments for several diseases, including cancer.
Atkins was also the first Irish citizen to be awarded the European
Molecular Biology Organization Fellowship (1969) at the University of
Aarhus in Denmark.
The first SFI Research Professor Fellowship was awarded to Jochen Prehn,
who took up his tenure as professor of physiology at the Royal College
of Surgeons in Ireland earlier this year.
SFI Director General William C. Harris said, “We have no doubt that
Prof. Atkins' talent and commitment will enhance and strengthen, not
only the capability of the BioSciences Institute at UCC, but also
Ireland's position as an increasingly renowned center for research in
the fields underpinning biotechnology.”
Links for this article
John F. Atkins
Science Foundation Ireland
University College Cork
Irish Research Scientists Association
Towards 3% of GDP, European Commission
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
