IACR Guest Lecturer

Prof. Jacintha O'Sullivan

Professor in Translational Oncology and Education Lead for the Trinity St. James’s Cancer Institute.

Prof. O Sullivan directs a translational gastrointestinal (GI) research team in the Trinity Translational Medicine Institute (TTMI) in collaboration with clinical and surgical colleagues and patient involvement. She is also the Education lead for the Trinity St. James’s Cancer Institute. She utilises well established bio-banking structures to drive this GI translational research program.

Prof. O Sullivan’s current translational research themes include: 

1. Development of diagnostic platforms to stratify cancer risk and response to targeted therapies for gastrointestinal diseases.

2. Development of novel patented therapeutics to be used in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment setting for gastrointestinal cancer patients (Colorectal and Oesophageal cancers). 

3. Elucidating how the tumour microenvironment cross talks to the immune system in Gastrointestinal diseased patients. 

4. Importance of metabolism, inflammation, and obesity in driving disease progression and in regulating treatment response in GI diseases.

5. Advancing new experimental technologies to boost treatment response in the resistant tumour microenvironment. The outputs of these translational themes will benefit patient care, treatment, and management for gastrointestinal diseased patients.

Irish Cancer Society Guest Lecturer

Dr Emer Guinan

Associate Professor in Cancer Rehabilitation and Survivorship, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin

Dr Emer Guinan is an Associate Professor in Cancer Rehabilitation and Survivorship, in the School of Medicine in Trinity College, with responsibility for building capacity in cancer survivorship research and education across the Trinity St James”s Cancer Institute (TSJCI).

She holds multiple administrative positions at the TSCJ including co-course coordinator of the MSc in Cancer Survivorship, a member of the TJSCI Education Advisory Board co-chair of the TSJCI Cancer Survivorship Network. A CORU registered physiotherapists, her primary expertise is in intervention development and evaluation to manage unmet cancer survivorship needs.

Her work has delivered 70 peer reviewed publications and she has received >€3 million in external grant funding, including >€300,000 as Principal Investigator.

She has fulfilled multiple research roles over her career including trial project manager (PREPARE & ReStOre trials), protocol development group for an international multi-site randomised controlled trial (INTERVAL-GAP4 trial), trial management group committee (ExPeCT, ReStOre & PreHIIT trials), co-Principal Investigator (PreHIIT trial) and Principal Investigator (PERCS), and has supervised numerous postgraduate student projects.

Breakthrough Cancer Research Guest Lecturer

Prof Christopher Scott

Dean of Research, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences, QUB

Following a primary degree in Biochemistry he undertook a PhD and post doctoral training at Queen’s in molecular enzymology. In 2001, Chris was one of the founding members of QUB spinout company Fusion Antibodies Ltd., before returning to Queen’s in 2003 to take up an academic position.

Chris is internationally renowned for his work in development of antibody and nanomedicine-based therapies for the treatment of cancer and other conditions. Work in his laboratory is funded by agencies such as Medical Research Council, US-Ireland, and various industrial sources such as AstraZeneca and Immunocore.

He also held a Royal Society Industrial Fellowship with GSK from 2012-15, and won the Vice Chancellor’s Prize for Innovation in 2015 with his group’s work on developing a novel nanomedicine for the treatment of sepsis and other inflammatory conditions. Chris is co-founder of Aviceda Therapeutics and AilseVax Ltd.

PPI Session Speakers

Prof Amanda McCann

UCD

Kay McKeon

IACR PPI Council Champion

Krista Costello

IACR PPI Council Member

Aideen McCabe

UCC

Dr Seodhna Lynch

Ulster University

Adele Connor

UCD

Deirdre O'Raw

UCD PPI Group Partner

Bridget Carr

UCD PPI Group Partner

Dr Nikolette Warner

Cancer Survivorship Research Officer, Irish Cancer Society

Dr Arman Rahman

Assistant Professor in the UCD School of Medicine, and Principal Investigator in the Cancer Biology and Therapeutics Laboratory

Dr Sarah McLoughlin

PPI Coordinator, Cancer Trials Ireland

Dr Claire Kilty

Head of Research, Irish Cancer Society

Prof. Patrick G. Johnston Award for Excellence in Cancer Research Outreach

Mon, 26 February 2024, 18:15 – 19:15

Six early career researchers have been selected based on their lay abstract submissions to IACR 2023. Those selected will take part in a patient communication workshop prior to IACR 2023 and will prepare a lay presentation on their work. Presentations will be delivered to peers and a lay audience at The Patrick G. Johnston Award for Excellence in Cancer Research. The winner is chosen by the audience and judging panel. Every year the event is open to the public.

Ms. Anastasija Walsh

University of Galway

My name is Ana and I am a PhD student from Dublin. In 2019 I graduated with a Bachelors in Molecular Medicine, followed by a Masters in Immunotherapeutics from Trinity College Dublin and then started my PhD in Medicine in the University of Galway. Here, I work with Dr. Aideen Ryan to investigate the role of extracellular vesicles in the colorectal tumour microenvironment.

Izabela Cymer

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

My name is Izabela, and I am a PhD student at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. In 2022, I began a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Ann Hopkins and Prof. Siobhan Glavey. My research focuses on developing a fast and cost-effective alternative model for tumour development and drug testing using the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). This model has the potential to accelerate the testing of new therapeutics while making research more accessible.

Luna Stockmann

Dublin City University

My name is Luna and I am a 1st year PhD student in Dublin City University with Dr Neil Conlon. I am from Germany and graduated from the University of Goettingen (Germany) in 2023 with a BSc in Molecular Medicine. At the end of my Bachelors degree, I did an internship In DCU and undertook my bachelor's thesis research there as well. I returned in 2024 and started my PhD project investigating combination treatments for ovarian cancer. I work with Antibody-Drug-Conjugates (ADCs) and different DNA damage inhibitors to find more effective and kinder treatment options for ovarian cancer patients.

Michéal Ryan

Queen’s University Belfast

My name is Michéal, and I am a third-year PhD student at Queen’s University Belfast. In 2021, I graduated with a BSc in Biomedical Science from Ulster University and began my PhD at the PGJCCR in September 2022. I am part of the Liquid Biopsy Consortium of Ireland (CluB), working with Prof. Paul Mullan to develop a diagnostic blood test for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer using circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA). Research has shown that a substantial amount of tumour-derived information enters the bloodstream, making liquid biopsies a promising, non-invasive alternative to surgical biopsies. In this project, our group aims to identify DNA methylation (DNAme) events in tumours that could serve as potential biomarkers for the improved diagnosis of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Dr Myra Castel

Dublin City University

My name is Myra, and I just completed my PhD earlier this year in Dublin City University in the Cancer Biotherapeutics Research Group headed by Assistant Professor Denis Collins. I graduated with a Master's degree in Biotechnology from a French graduate engineering school in 2020 and I started my PhD right after that. My research focuses on identifying new indications and novel combinations for a small molecule inhibitor that is already approved for the treatment of HER2+ breast cancer.

Shauna McClelland

Queens University Belfast

My name is Shauna, and I am a 3^rd year PhD student at Queens University Belfast. I completed a BSc in Biological Sciences (2019) and MSc in Cancer Medicine (2020) from QUB. I worked for a year within a safety laboratory for clinical trials before beginning my PhD in 2022. Here I work with Dr Melissa Wilson and Dr Cristina Branco along with my collaborators and funders in AstraZeneca. My project focuses on unlocking new therapeutic options to treat advanced and resistant prostate cancer. To do this we are investigating a protein pathway involving CXCR1/2 and its partner IL-8, which helps tumours grow, spread, and evade treatment. If we can block this pathway, it could provide new hope for men with advanced, treatment-resistant prostate cancer.

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