NIH/NHGRI - Key Persons
David received his BSc from the University of Hull, where he attained first class honours and the Professor Murton Prize for outstanding achievement in Zoology. David continued his studies at the University of Hull, undertaking a university funded MSc by Research under the supervision of Dr Africa Gómez. This investigation utilised bioinformatic methods to characterise the genomic architecture of sex chromosomes in Triops cancriformis across differing sexual systems.
David is a final year PhD candidate in our group, and is jointly supervised by Dr Simon Goodman (University of Leeds) and Dr. Mary O'Connell. He obtained a highly competitive PhD scholarship from the Leeds York NERC Doctoral Training Partnership. During his PhD, David used long-read next generation sequencing technology and cutting edge bioinformatic methods to assemble the genome of the Caspian seal. This genomic data will be incorporated with other publicly available genomes in a large scale comparative genomic analysis, investigating selection variation across Pinniped species (seals, fur seals, sea lions and walrus). This investigation will aim to identify some of the molecular adaptations underpinning the diverse lactation strategies seen across different species of pinnipeds.
Kathryn has previously obtained a B.Sc. in Genetics and Zoology (2009) and a M.Sc. in Genetics (2011) from the University of Otago in New Zealand. Kathryn's Master's thesis, under the supervision of Dr. Neil Gemmell (UoO) and John McEwan (AgResearch), looked for selection signatures in the genome of sheep selected for resistance or susceptibility to gastrointestinal nematodes.
In early 2011 Kathryn moved to Ireland and commenced her PhD. She is primarily based at Teagasc Grange (www.teagasc.ie/animalbioscience/) under the joint supervision of Dr Orla Keane. Her project aims to identify variation in the sheep genomes controlling gastrointestinal nematode resistance.
Mark graduated from the National University of Maynooth (NUI Maynooth) in 2009 with a BSc degree (double honours) in Biology and Chemistry. During his final year of undergraduate Mark worked on virulence factors of Bordetella pertussis, the causative agent of whooping cough. This project peaked Mark's interests in molecular underpinnings of disease and he proceded to secure a PhD position at DCU.
Mark's PhD is SFI funded (award to Dr Loscher) and is jointly supervised by Prof. Christine Loscher and Dr. Mary O'Connell.
Mark began his PhD in October 2009, with the central aim being to examine the role of Surface Layer Proteins (SLPs) as virulence factors in Clostridium difficile infection using a combination of skills and techniques from bioinformatics, molecular evolution, cell biology and immunology. Clostridium difficile is a nosocomial pathogen, that is a serious threat for hospitalized individuals undergoing antibiotic treatment. It is known to cause in a vast spectrum of symptoms in infected patients, with certain strains causing much more severe infection outcomes than others. Mark is testing the hypothesis that the sequences for the SLPs from C. difficile strains contribute to their observed variation in disease severity.
Mark successfully defended his PhD work in September 2014 and is currently a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Kingston Mills at Trinity College Dublin.
Andrew obtained a B.Sc. (cum laude) in Biotechnology (2008) and M.Sc. in Genetics (2010) from the University of California Davis (UC Davis). In his postgraduate studies at UC Davis, Andrew's research focused on the genomics of developmental mutations in chickens under the supervision of Dr. Mary Delany. At this time, Andrew first utilized basic bioinformatic techniques in his research and became interested in the application of computer science in biology. Soon thereafter Andrew's interest in bioinformatic became a central research interest.
To pursue his bioinformatic interest Andrew joined the laboratory of Dr. Mary O'Connell in 2010. Andrew's research aims to identify the molecular underpinnings of observed phenotypic variations between human and our model system - the mouse using evolutionary and network theory. There is growing literature that supports the link between positive selection (adaptive evolution) and protein functional shift (see our 2012 publication in MBE on the MPO enzyme). Andrew seeks to determine if the observed phenotypic differences in innate immune system response are governed by protein functional shift between human and mouse. His project involves large-scale comparative genomic analyses of complete vertebrate genomes. As such Andrew has designed and implemented many pipelines and specific software to achieve his goals. Andrew is also working with population genomic data to further understand the variation and fluctuation in allele frequencies that he observes in the immune systems of human and our model species - mouse. Andrew's work has far reaching implications for medicine, therapeutics, clinical trials and the future of human health. Andrew's research is funded by a Research Frontiers Programme award for fundamental science to Dr Mary J. O'Connell from Science Foundation Ireland.
Andrew was selected for an oral presentation at SMBE2013 (society for molecular biology and evolution annual international conference) in Chicago.
I am an Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham. Previously, I was a lecturer, then senior lecturer and deputy head of department at the School of Biotechnology, Dublin City University from 2005 until 2015. In 2012, I spent a year as a Fulbright visiting professor at Harvard in the Department of Organismal and Evolutionary Biology and the Museum of Comparative Zoology, where I worked with Professor Scott Edwards and his group.
In September 2015 I left DCU to take up my "250 Great Minds University Academic Fellowship" at the University of Leeds. At the University of Leeds, along with Dr. Niamh Forde and Dr. Julie Aspden, we established the Leedsomics research institute.
In July 2018 I was appointed as an Associate Professor in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nottingham, where I am currently based.
I am a council member for the international Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution, and am an associate editor for both of the societies journals (GBE and MBE) and an elected fellow of the Linnean Society. I am passionate about promoting evolutionary biology and in 2012, I was a co-organiser of the annual SMBE meeting in Dublin, Ireland, which was attended by 1,300 delegates. I have organised and taught on EMBO advanced courses in Phylogenetics and phylogenomics in Maynooth, Ireland (2004), Medellin, Colombia (2009), Erice, Sicily (2013) and Iquitos, Peru (2016).
Georgios was awarded his BSc in Biology from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece in 2015. His final year thesis examined the inter- and intra-specific genetic variation of the rare endemic plant species Stachys virgata Bory&Chaub (Labiatae), and the phylogenetic placement of the species. Georgios presented this 18 month project at two conferences.
Georgios was awarded the Lhasa scholarship from the University of Leeds, which helped to fund his MSc in Bioscience at the University of Leeds from which he graduated in 2017 with distinction. His MSc research projectwith Dr Katie Field at the University of Leeds was on the effect of plant root exudates on the soil of the rhizosphere. His work lead to the development of a novel assay that examines the interaction of soil and plant exudates .
Georgios is currently in the final year of his PhD studies with the School of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine and Health of the University of Leeds. His research aimed to identify genes that cause Amelogenesis Imperfecta (AI) in human teeth from affected families and to understand the evolutionary history of these genes and gene families. His project is a collaboration between the O'Connell group at The University of Nottingham, and Professor Chris Inglehearn, Dr Claire Smith and Dr Alan Mighell (lead supervisor) in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Leeds, with funding awarded from a School of Dentistry scholarship.
As part of the Leeds Dental Genetics group Georgios is also assisting with the maintenance of the Leeds AI gene variant database: http://dna2.leeds.ac.uk/LOVD/
Kate completed an undergraduate degree in Plant Genetic Engineering in University College Dublin where she spent summers working in the labs of Dr Tommy Gallagher and Dr Carl Ng in the Botany Department working on the genetics of oak trees and carrying out SEM studies of Arabidopsis mutants. Subsequently she did an IRCSET-funded Masters on Plant Sphingolipid Biology in the same department (graduating in 2009).
As an avid traveller, Kate has also done fieldwork around the world while studying on scholarship with the Cambridge Tropical Biology Association in Tanzania and volunteering in the Tofino Botanical Gardens in British Columbia, Canada.
Realizing a preference for theory, Kate attended the masters in bioinformatics in Dublin City University. There she worked in the Molecular Evolution lab supervised by Dr Mary J. O'Connell (graduating in 2012) carrying out work on the molecular signatures underlying the emergence and evolution of tissues.
Kate is currently working as a research assistant in the Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Support Hub in the University of Leicester, where she co-ordinates specialist training for staff and postgraduate students and assists with bioinformatics research. Having run a successful European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) Roadshow in Leicester in September 2012, Kate is currently organizing the first European group of non-EBI staff to run a tailored version of their highly subscribed Next Generation Sequencing workshop.