A major cystic fibrosis study is being carried out at Queen's University in Belfast to help improve the quality of life of sufferers.
The £1.7m grant is the largest awarded in the UK to study the microbiology of the lung disease.
The project has been funded by the US-Ireland Research and Development Partnership.
Further research funded by the partnership is being carried out at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin and the University of North Carolina in the United States.
Professor Stuart Elborn from Queen's said the aim is to discover the role of bacteria, known as anaerobes, in causing damage to the lungs of people with the illness.
'The results of the study will be of important clinical relevance to people with cystic fibrosis because, if we show that these anaerobes are contributing to infection and inflammation in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients, in the future patients could potentially be given more appropriate and effective antibiotics which should improve their clinical outcome and quality of life,' he said.
