A Tourmakeady scientist has won a €15,000 fellowship for her work to identify new treatments for chemo-resistant breast cancer.
Dr Tríona Ní Chonghaile is a researcher at University College Dublin and she was named last week as one of the winners of the 2015 L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Fellowships.
L'Oréal joined forces with UNESCO to form the programme to encourage greater participation of women in the field of science.
There were five winners of the fellowship in Ireland and the UK this year.
According to the programme organisers, the competition was extremely tough as a record 350 candidates applied for the five fellowships.
Dr Ní Chonghaile is working on developing a treatment for 'triple negative breast cancer', which can respond poorly to treatment.
Often, patients with triple negative breast cancer become resistant to treatment.
Dr Ní Chonghaile's is part of a research team that has identified a molecule that could kill chemo-resistant breast cancer cells.
They are now working to understand exactly how the molecule works and develop it into a treatment.
