This proposal will enable the candidate to successfully transition from a high profile US university to one of Europe’s leading universities, Trinity College Dublin (TCD), ranked 13th in Europe by the Times Higher Educational Supplement 2008. The candidate is poised to make major contributions to the Irish and EU research community by establishing her career at TCD. The candidate’s stellar research achievements and credibility as a scientist are evidenced by the fact that she has been awarded a prestigious career development award (CDA) from the Wellcome Trust, which will facilitate the move to Dublin. A Marie Curie IRG would significantly enhance the candidate’s career development within the EU over and above that achievable under the terms of the CDA. Specifically funding through this IRG alone would allow the candidate to a) grow and establish a research group at TCD by recruiting and training students b) continue a program of work in TCD that has already begun in Boston and can only be continued through funding from the IRG c) secure a long lasting collaboration with a high an internationally renowned scientist at Harvard Medical school, enhancing ties between this world famous institute and TCD d) diversify their research program by pursuing a project entirely distinct from that funded by the CDA. The proposed project represents an entirely novel approach for treatment of asthma by harnessing the immunomodulatory effects of a capsular polysaccharide molecule expressed by the airway commensal organism Streptococcus pneumoniae. It is predicted that Sp1 will induce immunomodulatory cytokines to protect against airway inflammation.