Research into suicide, diabetes and a gene therapy for cancer will be among projects funded during the next five years, the Health Research Board announced yesterday.
Five projects will share a £1.9 million grant.
The first will involve a "psychological autopsy" of every suicide in Cork city over the study period, and an examination of the methods of preventing repeated suicide attempts.
University College, Dublin, and the Mater Hospital will participate in a study on a fatal diabetic condition, diabetic nephorphathy, led by Prof Hugh Brady. Prof Barry Bresnihan, St Vincent's Hospital, will study early arthritis. And Prof Donal Hollwood, at St James's Hospital, in collaboration with other researchers, will look at gene therapy for cancer. Prof Peter Humphries will lead a research programme into gene therapy for preventing eye disease.