Tim Foster will give a lecture by Zoom on ‘The history of the Moyne Institute’ at 11am on Tuesday 29th March, 2022.

The Moyne Institute of Preventive Medicine occupies an important position overlooking College Park. It is the home of the Department of Microbiology. Many of the College community as well as past and present students and staff of the Microbiology Department probably know little if anything about the history of the building. This talk will present the historical background to the funding of the building as well as several substantial modifications. It will explain the memorial plaque in the atrium of the building. The Chair of Bacteriology was first filled in 1919 and just five individuals have occupied the position (now the Chair of Microbiology) during the subsequent 100 years. I will describe some of the contributions of the Professors and mention some of the personalities associated with the Moyne since its opening in 1953.

Professor Tim Foster was an undergraduate in TCD from 1965-1969. He was appointed to a Junior Lecturership in Microbiology in 1972 and rose through the ranks to Professor of Molecular Microbiology in 1997. At the beginning of his career his research focussed on resistance to antibiotics in bacteria. He then switched to investigating Staphylococcus aureus which is an important cause of infections in hospitals and in the community.