Dr Seodhna Lynch was awarded her BSc (Hons) degree in Biomedical Sciences from Queen’s University Belfast in 2010 and her MSc (Distinction) degree in Biomedical Sciences with Specialist Study in Haematology and Transfusion Sciences from Ulster University in 2011. She started her PhD studentship in 2012 with Dr Declan McKenna in the Genomic Medicine Research Group at Ulster University. Her research entailed investigating the role of microRNAs and epigenetic regulation in prostate cancer and she graduated with her PhD in 2016.

Dr Lynch then undertook a Northern Ireland Chest, Heart and Stroke (NICHS) funded Post-Doctoral Research Associate position at Ulster University, where she investigated the potential use of microRNAs as serum markers of blood pressure in cardiovascular disease. Following this Dr Lynch undertook a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) funded Post-Doctoral Research Fellow position with Professor William Gallagher in the Cancer Biology & Therapeutics (CBT) Laboratory within the UCD Conway Institute, where her research involved validation of the novel eleven-marker prognostic signature termed OncoMasTR at the mRNA and protein level in breast cancer. Dr Lynch then transitioned into industry where she worked as a Biomarker Product Manager at Almac Diagnostics, her role in this position primarily entailed managing a program of biomarker and companion diagnostic oncology projects.

Following her time in industry, she then transitioned back into academia as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at Ulster University investigating novel senescence biomarkers and their utility in predicting severity in COVID-19 patients. Dr Lynch’s research programme to date has resulted in several publications in journals including the European Journal of Cancer and Cancer Research.

Currently Dr Lynch is a Post-Doctoral Research Associate, funded by the Little Princess Trust/Childhood Cancer and Leukaemia Group, with Dr Kyle Matchett within the School of Medicine at Ulster University and in collaboration with Dr Ross Levine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), New York. Her research interests primarily focus on identifying novel biomarkers in cancer for directing personalised cancer therapy and specifically developing novel therapeutics for paediatric acute myeloid leukaemia.

In addition to her research, Dr Lynch was awarded Associate Fellowship with the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) and was appointed as a part-time Lecturer for a period of time at Ulster University in 2022. She also was a previous committee member of the Patient Voice in Cancer Research (PVCR) group during her time at UCD and continues to coordinate and organize patient events at Ulster University.