Professor George Barreto of UL discusses his research and how it may help develop new therapies to treat and protect the brain.
Professor George Barreto is a professor of cell biology/immunology at the University of Limerick (UL) and a neuroscientist.
Outside the lab, Barreto is the assistant dean for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the Faculty of Science and Engineering.
“And I teach,” he told SiliconRepublic.com. “I run some courses for our undergraduate and master’s students, especially how the body works, how drugs work (pharmacology), and how cells behave (cell biology).
“So my job is a combination of three things, running my research lab, teaching the next generation of scientists, and helping to build a better academic culture.”
Here, Barreto tells us more about his current research.
Can you tell me about your current research?
My lab studies how the hormones in our bodies, the ones we usually associate with being male or female, affect the brain, and how that differs between men and women. We pay special attention to the small part of every cell that acts as a battery or energy center. These are called mitochondria, and these little batteries don’t just power our cells. They also help determine whether our cells stay healthy or die.
Our hormones have a huge influence on how well these energy centers work in the brain. The bottom line is that those hormone levels naturally decline as we age. I believe that may be one of the main reasons why diseases like Alzheimer’s are more common in women than men.
Therefore, our lab works on several connected questions. Why does the aging brain go from robust to vulnerable? How do hormones keep brain cells healthy, and why does that protection wear off with age? How does a head injury throw off the body’s hormones and cause dangerous inflammation in the brain?
And finally, I think the part that I find most hopeful is, can we take drugs that already exist (and are FDA approved) and use them in a new way to protect the mind?
What drew you to this area/topic?
It comes from a question I can’t shake, why are women more prone to Alzheimer’s and similar diseases, and why does that risk seem to change during menopause? For a long time, medical research ignored the differences between men and women or treated them as minor details. The more I looked, the more I realized that this was not a small detail, it was at the heart of the problem.
Then there are the cells that support the brain, the astrocytes. They have fascinated me since my first research steps, back in Brazil and then in Madrid, and now in Ireland, and honestly, they still do.
People used to dismiss them as the glue that held the brain together, but I ended up seeing them as real decision makers. They have a big say in whether or not the brain recovers after an injury. When I combined it with hormones, which end up being very different in men and women, and those little batteries that hold life and death power over the cell, I finally felt I had a way to really explain these differences, instead of just pointing them out.
Why is this research important?
I think there are two reasons. The first is very simple – as people live longer, more of us will experience diseases such as dementia, and women bear more of that burden. If we can truly understand why hormone loss makes a woman’s brain so vulnerable, we can begin to design treatments that are tailored to the individual’s biology, rather than treating everyone the same, which is what most of us do today.
The second reason is about the big picture. When those small cell batteries start to fail, it’s not just one disease problem. We see it in aging, brain damage, inflammation, dementia. So, if we can find ways for hormones to keep those batteries working, we’ve found something that can help in many situations at once.
This is why we focus on drugs that are already available and known to be safe. Taking an approved drug and repurposing it is a faster, cheaper way to reach patients than building one from scratch. And for people who are suffering now, speed is important.
What was the most surprising insight/finding from your research?
What surprised me the most was how much sex mattered, down to one cell.
We tend to think that medicine does the same thing for everyone. But when we studied a hormone-based drug called tibolone, we found that it works differently in cells taken from women than cells taken from men.
The cells responded in their own unique ways, and the medicine even restored their natural ability to cleanse differently depending on whether they were male or female. The idea that a cell sitting in a container still ‘knows’ whether it is male or female and reacts to the same drug differently because of it is amazing, and still something that many people do not fully understand.
What surprised me even more is that this difference comes down to those small batteries (mitochondria) inside the cell that I mentioned earlier.
We found that, in cells that support the brain (astrocytes), mitochondria from women were stronger and more tolerant than those from men when exposed to high levels of saturated fat, the type of stress the body goes through when you gain weight.
In other words, the energy systems of the female brain cells were already able to withstand that pressure. That was a real eye-opener for me, because it suggests that this male/female difference is not just a small detail, but is built deep into how the cell powers itself and protects itself. And it underscores why we can’t continue to design medicine as if one size fits all.
What is your opinion of the research environment in Ireland? What improvements would you suggest?
I think Ireland is in an interesting state of transition. In 2024, the Government merged its two main research funding bodies into one, now called Research Ireland, which now supports work in all subjects, from science and engineering to the arts and social sciences. I think that is a good step. Previously, some courses were not properly included in the funding process, which put Ireland a step behind other countries. For me, his work that crosses several fields at the same time, a program that really supports that kind of dialogue between different areas is very welcome!
There is real desire behind it too. Ireland is planning to invest in its universities and wants to support thousands of new PhD students and early career researchers. And in such a small country, what impresses me the most is the talent and the real links between education, industry, and pharmacy. That combination is truly unique in the world, and it’s part of what made me want to build my lab here.
Having said that, there are a few things I will push for. First, I would like to see stable, predictable funding for basic research. Applied work is very important, but the really big breakthroughs often start as curiosity-driven science with no obvious (and long-term impact) commercial angle. That’s how my tibolone career began.
Second, we must look after our junior researchers, PhD students, postdocs, research assistants, and new team leaders. The desire to train thousands of them is amazing, but only if we value them and create real ways to keep them here, instead of losing them abroad.
Third, our infrastructure. Modern biomedical research requires advanced imaging, computing power, data science, and shared facilities, and that requires continued investment.
Fourth, and this is close to my heart given my EDI role, I would like to see equity, diversity and inclusion considered as part of the best research, not as a box-ticking activity on the side. To me they are the same. Broad participation, inclusive groups, and fair structures simply produce better science.
My field is proof. Ignoring the differences between men and women has held science back for decades. This is unacceptable.
Finally, I think Ireland is well placed to connect academia, healthcare, industry, policy and communities. In areas like dementia, women’s health, and menopause, real progress will come from people working across those boundaries. Ireland is small enough that you can get those people into the room quickly, and you are eager to lead the world if we support that connection properly.
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