Some people might find it difficult to cosy up a nematode, even one which rejoices in the graceful name of Caenorhabtis elegans.

Others may be unsure just what a nematode is. For the information of this latter, ill-informed group, nematodes are more commonly known as roundworms or eelworms (think in terms of potato eelworm, cattle lungworm, human hookworm and sheep stomach worm).

For Dr Ann Burnell, dean of science at NUI Maynooth and chairwoman of an EU-wide group, investigating nematodes, they are the stuff of research dreams, now that she has secured funding and recognition for her work.

Burnell was an unlikely candidate to become a scientist, not to mind dean of science in a third-level college, or a researcher probing the secrets of the nematode. After primary school in St Francis's, Meelick, Co Galway, she was awarded a scholarship by Galway County Council to attend St Raphael's secondary school in Loughrea. The catch: the scholarship, at that time (1960s), required girls to study domestic science. "In our school, science and domestic science were incompatible because of timetable clashes. So I did not study science in secondary school." This did not stop her doing a degree in zoology in UCC, after which she returned to Galway to do postgraduate research. "My project was to study the population structure of the Atlantic salmon. Young salmon leave their river of birth to feed in the sea for up to two years and they return to freshwater to spawn. Salmon have a very strong homing instinct, and then to return to their native river. This segregation of the stocks at the time of spawning means salmon tend to form distinct races.

"This is what we found in Ireland. In collaboration with scientists at the British ministry of agriculture and fisheries, we found that the salmon in the UK and Ireland could be separated into two races - a northern 'Boreal' race and a southern 'Celtic' race." Studying the genetics of salmon involves taking blood samples, by syringe, from the heart of the fish. It also entails a lot of driving, following the stock as they migrate. Burnell decided it was time to part with the salmon. The findings of the collaborative group were published in 1976.

"I came to Maynooth in 1974, two years earlier. The first intake of students into the new BSc biology degree were entering their third year, there were three students in third year, nine in second year and 20 in first year. I was one of three lecturing staff in the biology department." Burnell taught a variety of subjects and did a PhD entitled "Genetic manipulation of neurotransmitter metabolism in the fruit-fly Drosophia melanogaster and its effect on behaviour." She also began to work on the biochemistry of C elegans.

Their work at NUI Maynooth on C elegans and another nematode, Heterorhabditis, contributed to their winning a large EU grant in 1990, under the ╔CLAIN programme. This was co-ordinated by Professor Martin Downes, and jointly awarded to four lecturers in the department, Drs Christine Griffin, Barbara Dowds, Ann Burnell and Prof Downes. The project provided funding to work on Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, a killer parasite of insects. It carries a bacterium in its intestine that it releases into the insect bloodstream, killing it within 24 hours.

Insect parasitic nematodes are bad news for the insects but may be good news for the farmer. They are now produced commercially and sold for the biological control of soil-dwelling insect pests such as vine weevils, mushroom gnats and beetle grubs in amenity turf grass.

Interest in insect nematodes has continued to grow and they are now the subject of a five-year (2001 to 2006) COST (Co-operation in Science and Technology) action funded by the EU. This action has 21 active member-countries and is chaired by Dr Burnell.

At this stage in her narrative, Burnell pauses, sits back in her chair in the office in the Callan building, in NUI Maynooth's modern north campus, starts to smile (a certain bemusement is obviously showing in her interviewer's face) and says: "enough of nematodes", before launching into another detailed account of their genetics, development and possible applications.

So, just one more nematode tale: one that should interest most readers.

Mutant strains of C elegans can live for three times the normal lifespan. (Think human: instead of living to 70, we might be around at 210 years of age.) The aim of the project is to identify and characterise novel genes that promote lifespan extension in the nematodes and to look for homologues of these "enhanced-life maintenance genes" in humans. Could eelworms unlock the secret of longer life? This is just one of a number of current research projects Burnell is involved with. They include gene sequencing in Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, dessication in Aphelenchus avenae, and using biological agents to control diamondback moth in Chinese and Indonesian brassica crops.

In December, she will visit China for the first management meeting of this latter project.

As well as being a prodigious researcher, Burnell is also the first woman dean of science at NUI Maynooth.

"At the moment, I'm supposed to spend 50 per cent of my time on research, and 50 per cent on the dean's duties. I've lost my teaching hours."

Obviously proud of NUI Maynooth's faculty of science, she says: "I am very fortunate to have been appointed dean of science at a time when the faculty is thriving: over £30 million has been invested in buildings and equipment over the past 10 years.

The departments of biology, chemistry, computer science and experimental physics are now housed in new buildings with state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities.

"A new bioscience research building is under construction, and should be completed by October 2002."

She initiated the setting up of a faculty subcommittee to advise on how the teaching and learning environment could be improved - key recommendations are being put in place this academic year with the emphasis on a greater level of support for first-year students.

"Faculty member have volunteered in large numbers for the newly-established university mentoring system. The response from lecturers is such that there will be a five-to-one ratio of science students to mentors. We hope this will ease the transition from second level to a university environment in which students are expected to take the primary responsibility for their personal study and learning."