Professor Thomas Bolger
Professor Thomas Bolger is a Science graduate from University College Dublin. Having completed a Higher Diploma in Education he gained a Ph.D. in Agricultural Zoology and later studied computer modelling at Trinity College Dublin. He is currently Head of The UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science and has been a member of staff at UCD since 1981.
His primary research interests are in the effects of global change on terrestrial biodiversity and nutrient dynamics in soil systems. He has been involved with large projects in these areas since 1988 and, in 1997, he was a Fulbright Scholar, at the Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, examining the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function. He also has a particular interest in experimental design and statistical models and has published in these areas. He is a subject editor for Soil Biology and Biochemistry and a member of the editorial board of four other journals.
Professor Alexander Evans
Professor Alexander Evans sat his Leaving Certificate in Donegal, was awarded a BSc in Animal Science by Nottingham University (UK) in 1989, a PhD by the University of Saskatchewan (Canada) in 1993 and a DSc (Published work) from the National University of Ireland in 2009. After spending 3 years as a postdoctoral fellow in Cornell University (USA) he joined the academic staff as Assistant Lecturer in University College Dublin in 1996. Since then he has attracted over €12 million in research funding, supervised 28 graduate students, has published over 85 peer reviewed papers and is presently the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Animal Reproduction Science. Professor Evans’ research interests are in reproductive physiology and he is currently the Director of the Reproductive Biology Research Cluster that is funded by a multi-million Euro grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and a number of industrial partners. The Cluster comprises over 60 scientists working on basic and applied projects to address specific aspects of female infertility focusing on events in the days immediately before and after fertilization.
Professor Brian Harvey
Professor Brian Harvey obtained a BSc (Hons) in Physics and Physiology (1979) and a PhD in Physiology (1982) from University College Dublin. From 1982-1992 he worked with the French national science agency ( Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) at the French Atomic Energy Commission's Molecular and Cell Biology labs in Villefranche-sur-mer. In 1992 he returned to Ireland to take up the Chair of Cell Physiology at University College Cork and established the Welcome Trust Cellular Physiology Research Unit. From 1998 - 2002 he was Vice-President for Research at UCC. In 2002 he was appointed Professor of Molecular Medicine at RCSI and director of the Molecular Medicine Laboratories at Beaumont Hospital. His research programmes are focused on rapid responses to steroid hormones in kidney, lung and intestine.
In 2006, he was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Merite by The President of France. In 2005 he received the Laureat Prix Servier from the Servier Institute for his work on rapid responses to steroid hormones. In 2000, he was elected a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Humanities and in 2007 was elected to the Royal Irish Academy.
Webpages:
Dr Gary Jones
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Dr Jones obtained a BSc in Genetics in 1991 and PhD in Molecular Biology in 1995, both from the University of Liverpool, UK. His training in genetics and molecular biology has made use of the unicellular eukaryote baker's yeast as a model for human disease. Prior to establishing the Yeast Genetics laboratory at NUI Maynooth in 2004, Dr Jones held a postdoctoral position in the Department of Biochemistry, University College London (1996-1998) and was a Fogarty International Visiting Fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland (1998-2003). Currently his research focuses on using the yeast system to decipher the role of molecular chaperone proteins in the formation and propagation of prions.
Professor Clive Lee
Professor Clive Thomas Lee is Professor of Anatomy in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (2002) and the Royal Hibernian Academy (2007) and Visiting Professor of Biomechanics and Tissue Engineering in Trinity College Dublin (2003), where he is also Chair of the Executive Committee of the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering. A graduate in physiology (1981) and medicine (1984), he obtained his MSc in anatomy (1988) and PhD (1995), MD (1997) and ScD (2010) in biomechanics. His main research is in microdamage detection and bone remodelling related to osteoporosis. He is a Fellow of the Irish and Edinburgh Royal Colleges of Surgeons and of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, where he is a Chartered Engineer. He was awarded a Wellcome Trust Scholarship (1980-81) and a Fulbright Scholarship to Harvard (1995-96). He was awarded the Fulbright Medal in 2003 and the Samuel Haughton Silver Medal of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland in 2010. He was President of the Section of Bioengineering, RAMI (2000-02), President of the European Society for Engineering and Medicine (2003-07) and currently represents the Royal Irish Academy on the Biosciences Steering Panel of the European Academies Science Advisory Council.
www.rcsi.ie; www.tcd.ie/bioengineering.
Professor Stephanie McKeown
Professor Stephanie McKeown, a native of Belfast, studied at Somerville College Oxford graduating in 1973 with a BA in Natural Sciences (Biochemistry). In 1977 she completed a PhD at Queen’s University Belfast on the pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis and continued to work on MS for a further 4 years before taking a career break. In 1989 she returned to QUB and a research post in cancer biology. In 1991 she was appointed to a lectureship in radiation biology at the University of Ulster. Since then she has held a variety of posts that have led, in 2002, to appointment to a Chair in Cancer Biology. Her main research interests are focused around tumour biology with particular reference to hypoxia and the role of tumour microvasculature. She has been instrumental in the preclinical development of the novel bioreductive drug, banoxantrone (AQ4N). This drug primarily targets hypoxic tumour cells and in combination with radiotherapy and chemotherapy can enhance tumour control. She currently has a special interest in prostate cancer. Previously she was Chair of the Cancer Recognised Research Group in Northern Ireland, the Irish Radiation Research Society and the Association for Radiation Research.
Professor Aaron Maule
AARON G. MAULE is Professor of Molecular Parasitology and the Director of Research for Molecular Biosciences in the School of Biological Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast. He was awarded a BSc(Hons) in Biology (1986) and a PhD in Experimental Parasitology (1989) at Queen’s where he began working on parasite neuromuscular systems as targets for their control. He focused on parasite nervous system structure, neuropeptide discovery and muscle function during postdoctoral positions at Queen’s and subsequently at The Upjohn Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan (USA). He returned to Queen’s in 1995 to pursue the basic biology of helminth signaling systems and their exploitation for parasite control. Current research interests include parasite neurobiology and the development and exploitation of gene silencing platforms for drug target validation and parasite control. He has published over 130 papers in peer reviewed journals and serves on editorial boards for the International Journal for Parasitology and the Journal of Helminthology. In 2004 he was awarded the C.A. Wright Medal by the British Society of Parasitology and in 2008 he received the Bueding von Brand Award from the American Society of Parasitologists.
Professor Rosemary O’Connor
Professor Rosemary O'Connor is Professor of Cell Biology and the Head of the School of Sciences at University College Cork. Prior to returning to Ireland she worked in the USA and Germany in both academia (the Institute of Pathology of the University of Wuerzburg, Germany and the Wistar Institute at U PENN, Philadelphia) and industry (Immunogen, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts) where her contributions led to new drug discovery and clinical trials. Since joining University College Cork in 1997 she has established a new research programme, been a founding investigator of the BioSciences Institute and is Director of a structured PhD training program in cancer biology. The primary focus of her research is on Insulin like Growth Factor signaling, particularly in cancer, although applications of this research extend to many areas of biology. She holds a BSc. from University College Galway and a Ph.D. from NUI Maynooth. She has served on a number of scientific boards and advisory committees for the European Union, Science Foundation Ireland, the Breast Cancer Campaign (UK), and was awarded the Irish Area Section Medal by the Biochemical Society in 2007.
Link to Biography: http://publish.ucc.ie/researchprofiles/D003/roconnor
Dr Shirley O'Dea
Dr. Shirley O’Dea graduated with a B.Sc. (Biochemistry) from UCD (1991) and went on to complete a Ph.D. at DCU (1995). In 1997, she received a Marie Curie Fellowship from the EU to study respiratory disease at Edinburgh University Medical School. Dr. O’Dea returned in 2001 to the Institute of Immunology within the Biology Department at NUI Maynooth and was awarded a Science Foundation Ireland Investigator Programme Grant (2002) to investigate mechanisms of lung regeneration. In 2004, she was appointed to a permanent lectureship position in the Biology Department, NUI Maynooth.
Dr. O’Dea leads the Epithelial Immunobiology Laboratory in the Institute of Immunology, NUI Maynooth. Research within the group focuses on differentiation pathways and regeneration mechanisms within the lung epithelium in health and disease with the ultimate aim of developing novel treatments for lung disease. To this end, Dr. O’Dea has established a Lung Therapeutics Facility at NUI Maynooth with technologies and expertise for studying lung disease processes and therapeutic strategies in vivo. Dr. O’Dea is also closely collaborating with engineering partners to develop a novel medial device capable of delivering drugs to the lungs and other sites in the body. The group is also actively collaborating with several industrial partners.
Professor Clive Williams
Professor David Clive Williams MRIA is Associate Professor of Biochemistry in Trinity College Dublin and is currently Dean of Engineering, Mathematics and Science. His research interests concentrate on protein-structue-function relationships and mechanism-based drug discovery. He has published 120+ peer-reviewed papers on his research. Williams research can be found at : Cancer Drug Discovery - Research - School of Biochemistry and Immunology - Trinity College Dublin