Main Area of Interest
Sepsis is a systemic bacterial infection and is the most common cause of death in intensive care units worldwide. Innate immunity is the first line of defence against bacterial infections and toll- like receptors (TLRs) are key players in the modulation of the innate immune system. TLRs recognise a diverse range of conserved structures, called pathogen-associated molecular patterns, within microbes. TLR4 has emerged as a therapeutic target for the treatment of sepsis. My current area of research involves the development of a series of potent, small drug-like molecules to inhibit the TLR4/MD2 complex. This involves the use of computational screening methods to predict small molecules that will block interaction and binding of LPS in the MD2 pocket within the complex. These small molecules then undergo biological mechanistic investigation to confirm biological efficacy and to investigate functional cellular effects. Additional iterations of computational screening and subsequent biological assays will be performed to optimise these lead compounds.
History:
Visiting Pre-doctoral Fellowship, Northwestern University, Chicago, 2003-2004BSc (Pharmacology) University of Aberdeen, 2005
PgDip (Statistics) Trinity College Dublin, 2007
PhD (Neuroscience) Trinity College Dublin, 2009
Research Fellow, Dept. of Pharmacology and Therapeutic, TCD, 2009-2010
Research Fellow, School of Biochemistry and Immunology, TCD, 2011-present
Publications
(6) O'Reilly, JA and Lynch MA. (2011)
Rosiglitazone improves spatial memory and decreases insoluble Aß1-42 in APP/PS1 mice. Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology.
Accepted.
(5) Lynch AM, Murphy KJ, Deighan BF, O'Reilly JA, Gun<92>ko YK, Cowley TR, González-Reyes RE and Lynch MA (2010)
The impact of glial activation in the aging brain. Aging and Dementia.
In Press.
(4) Gallagher JJ, Tekoriute R, O'Reilly JA, Kerskens C, Gun'ko YK, Lynch MA. (2009)
Bimodal magnetic fluorescent nanostructures for biomedical applications.
Journal of Materials Chemistry. 19: 4081-4084
(3) Lyons A, McQuillan K, Deighan BF, O'Reilly JA, Downer EJ, Murphy AC, Watson M, Piazza A, O'Connell F, Griffin R, Mills KH, Lynch MA. (2009)
Decreased neuronal CD200 expression in IL-4-deficient mice results in increased neuroinflammation in response to lipopolysaccharide.
Brain Behaviour Immunology. 23(7):1020-7.
(2) Kilroy D, Lalor S, O'Reilly JA, Murphy K, Gallagher JJ, Feeney J, Smith K (2008)
Invited Paper: Postgraduate Research in Neuroscience. Journal of Postgraduate Research, Trinity
College Dublin.
(1) Weible AP, O'Reilly JA, Weiss C, Disterhoft JF. (2006) Comparisons of Dorsal and Ventral
"julie.txt" [noeol][converted] 55L, 2766C
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