Dr. Kiva Brennan
Research Assistant Professor, Trinity Inst. of Neurosciences (TCIN)
Research Assistant Professor, Clinical Medicine
Biography
I am a Research Assistant Professor, leading the Paediatric Immunobiology Research Group in the School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin. Since completing my PhD in Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, I have undertaken a broad range of biomedical research relating to paediatric immunology, obesity, innate immune regulation and evasion, ocular biology, and the role of the immune system in the pathogenesis of disease. I have a passion for pediatric research and vaccine adjuvant design. Over the past decade, I have engaged in extensive research focused on identifying and characterizing the activity of a family of receptors, including RIG-I, in primary human neonatal cells. This work has been critical in understanding how these receptors function within the immune responses of newborns, particularly in relation to their unique immune profiles compared to adults. By investigating the mechanisms of RIG-I and related receptors, we can gain insights into their roles in detecting viral infections and modulating the immune response, which may lead to improved strategies for paediatric vaccinations.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Killeen, S.L. and Mealy, G. and Brennan, K. and Cotter, P.D. and Yelverton, C. and Saldova, R. and Groeger, D. and VanSinderen, D. and Doyle, S. and McAuliffe, F.M., Impact of Bifidobacterium longum1714® on maternal cytokine response in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, Cytokine, 174, (156458), 2024
Connolly, E. and El-Farouki, G. and Brennan, K. and Cahill, M. and Doyle, S.L., Poor Response to Bevacizumab Correlates With Higher IL-6 and IL-8 Aqueous Cytokines in AMD, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 65, (11), 2024, p37
Mealy, G. and Brennan, K. and Killeen, S.L. and Kilbane, M. and Yelverton, C. and Saldova, R. and Groeger, D. and VanSinderen, D. and Cotter, P.D. and Doyle, S.L. and McAuliffe, F.M., Impact of previous pregnancy and BMI on cellular and serum immune activity from early to late pregnancy, Scientific Reports, 14, (1), 2024
De Barra, C. and Khalil, M. and Mat, A. and O'Donnell, C. and Shaamile, F. and Brennan, K. and O'Shea, D. and Hogan, A.E., Glucagon-like peptide-1 therapy in people with obesity restores natural killer cell metabolism and effector function, Obesity, 31, (7), 2023, p1787-1797
Brennan, K, Craven, S., Cheung, M, Kane, D., Noone, E., O'Callaghan, J., Molloy, E.J., Walsh, P.T., McAuliffe, F.,Doyle, S.L. , Cytosolic dsRNA improves neonatal innate immune responses to adjuvants in use in paediatric vaccines., Journal of Leukocyte Biology, 2022
Slattery K., Breheny M., Woods E., Keating S., Brennan K., Rooney C., Augustine S., Ryan A., Owens C., Gardiner C.M., Heightened metabolic responses in NK cells from patients with neuroblastoma suggests increased potential for immunotherapy, Frontiers in Oncology, 12, 2022
Jennifer Cable and Rino Rappuoli and Elizabeth J. Klemm and Gagandeep Kang and Ankur Mutreja and Gavin J. Wright and Mariagrazia Pizza and Sowmya Ajay Castro and Joseph P. Hoffmann and Galit Alter and Andrea Carfi and Andrew J. Pollard and Florian Krammer and Ravindra K. Gupta and Caroline E. Wagner and Viviane Machado and Kayvon Modjarrad and Lawrence Corey and Peter B. Gilbert and Gordon Dougan and Nicole Lurie and Pamela J. Bjorkman and Christopher Chiu and Elisa Nemes and Stephen B. Gordon and Andrew C. Steer and Thomas Rudel and Catherine A. Blish and John Tyler Sandberg and Kiva Brennan and Keith P. Klugman and Lynda M. Stuart and Shabir A. Madhi and Christopher L. Karp, Innovative vaccine approaches"a Keystone Symposia report, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1511, (1), 2022, p59--86
Delaney, C. and Farrell, M. and Doherty, C.P. and Brennan, K. and Oâ Keeffe, E. and Greene, C. and Byrne, K. and Kelly, E. and Birmingham, N. and Hickey, P. and Cronin, S. and Savvides, S.N. and Doyle, S.L. and Campbell, M., Attenuated CSF-1R signalling drives cerebrovascular pathology, EMBO Molecular Medicine, 13, (2), 2021
Useckaite Z, Ward MP, Trappe A, Reilly R, Lennon J, Davage H, Matallanas D, Cassidy H, Dillon ET, Brennan K, Doyle SL, Carter S, Donnelly S, Linnane B, McKone EF, McNally P, Coppinger JA., Increased extracellular vesicles mediate inflammatory signalling in cystic fibrosis., Thorax, 75, (6), 2020, p449-458
Mulfaul K, Ozaki E, Fernando N, Brennan K, Chirco KR, Connolly E, Greene C, Maminishkis A, Salomon RG, Linetsky M, Natoli R, Mullins RF, Campbell M, Doyle SL., Toll-like Receptor 2 Facilitates Oxidative Damage-Induced Retinal Degeneration., Cell reports, 30, (7), 2020, p2209-2224.e5
Brennan, K. and O'Leary, B.D. and Mc Laughlin, D. and Kinlen, D. and Molloy, E.J. and Cody, D. and Paran, S. and McAuliffe, F.M. and Hogan, A.E. and Doyle, S.L., Nucleic acid cytokine responses in obese children and infants of obese mothers, Cytokine, 119, 2019, p152-158
Ui Mhaonaigh, A., Coughlan, A. M., Dwivedi, A., Hartnett, J., Cabral, J., Moran, B., Brennan, K., Doyle, S. L., Hughes, K., Lucey, R., Floudas, A., Fearon, U., McGrath, S., Cormican, S., De Bhailis, A., Molloy, E. J., Brady, G., & Little, M. A., Low Density Granulocytes in ANCA Vasculitis Are Heterogenous and Hypo-Responsive to Anti-Myeloperoxidase Antibodies., Frontiers in immunology, 10, (2603), 2019
Brennan, K. and Lyons, C. and Fernandes, P. and Doyle, S. and Houston, A. and Brint, E., Engagement of Fas differentially regulates the production of LPS-induced proinflammatory cytokines and type I interferons, FEBS Journal, 286, (3), 2019, p523-535
Kiva Brennan, Bobby D. O"Leary, Danielle Mc Laughlin, Eamon P. Breen, Emma Connolly, Nusrat Ali, David N. O"Driscoll, Ema Ozaki, Rebecca Mahony, Kelly Mulfaul, Aoife M. Ryan, Aine Ni Chianain, Alison McHugh, Eleanor J. Molloy, Andrew E. Hogan, Sri Paran, Fionnuala M. McAuliffe, Sarah L. Doyle, Type 1 IFN Induction by Cytosolic Nucleic Acid Is Intact in Neonatal Mononuclear Cells, Contrasting Starkly with Neonatal Hyporesponsiveness to TLR Ligation Due to Independence from Endosome-Mediated IRF3 Activation, The Journal of Immunology, 2018, pji1700956
Brennan K, McSharry BP, Keating S, Petrasca A, O'Reilly VP, Keane J, Doherty DG, Gardiner CM, Human Natural Killer cell expression of ULBP2 is associated with a mature functional phenotype., Human immunology, 77, (10), 2016, p876-885
Keating SE, Zaiatz-Bittencourt V, Loftus RM, Keane C, Brennan K, Finlay DK, Gardiner CM., Metabolic Reprogramming Supports IFN-γ Production by CD56bright NK Cells., Journal of Immunology, 196, (6), 2016, p2552 - 2560
Doyle SL, López FJ, Celkova L, Brennan K, Mulfaul K, Ozaki E, Kenna PF, Kurali E, Hudson N, Doggett T, Ferguson TA, Humphries P, Adamson P, Campbell M, IL-18 Immunotherapy for Neovascular AMD: Tolerability and Efficacy in Nonhuman Primates., Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 56, (9), 2015, p5424-30
Ní Gabhann J, Hams E, Smith S, Wynne C, Byrne JC, Brennan K, Spence S, Kissenpfennig A, Johnston JA, Fallon PG, Jefferies CA., Btk regulates macrophage polarization in response to lipopolysaccharide., PloS One, 21, 2014, pe85834.
Doyle, SL, Ozaki, E, Brennan, K, Humphries, MM, Mulfaul, K, Keaney, J, Kenna, PF, Maminishkis, A, Kiang, AS, Saunders, SP, Hams, E, Lavelle, EC, Gardiner, C, Fallon, PG, Adamson, P, Humphries, P, Campbell, M, IL-18 Attenuates Experimental Choroidal Neovascularization as a Potential Therapy for Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration, SCIENCE TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE, 6, 2014, p230-
Stack J, Hurst TP, Flannery SM, Brennan K, Rupp S, Oda S, Khan AR, Bowie AG, Poxviral protein A52 stimulates p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation by causing tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6) self-association leading to transforming growth factor ß-activated kinase 1 (TAK1) recruitment., The Journal of biological chemistry, 288, (47), 2013, p33642-53
Gabhann, J.N., Higgs, R., Brennan, K., Thomas, W., Damen, J.E., Larbi, N.B., Krystal, G., Jefferies, C.A., Absence of SHIP-1 results in constitutive phosphorylation of tank-binding kinase 1 and enhanced TLR3-dependent IFN-ß production, Journal of Immunology, 184, (5), 2010, p2314-2320
Brennan, K., Bowie, A.G., Activation of host pattern recognition receptors by viruses, Current Opinion in Microbiology, 13, (4), 2010, p503-507
Boyd, C.R., Orr, S.J., Spence, S., Burrows, J.F., Elliott, J., Carroll, H.P., Brennan, K., Gabhann, J.N., Coulter, W.A., Johnston, J.A., Jefferies, C.A., Siglec-E is up-regulated and phosphorylated following lipopolysaccharide stimulation in order to limit TLR-driven cytokine production, Journal of Immunology, 183, (12), 2009, p7703-7709
Brennan, K., Jefferies, C.A., Proteomic analysis of protein complexes in toll-like receptor biology, Methods in Molecular Biology, 517, 2009, p91-104
Bridges DJ, Pitt AR, Hanrahan O, Brennan K, Voorheis HP, Herzyk P, de Koning HP, Burchmore RJ, Characterisation of the plasma membrane subproteome of bloodstream form Trypanosoma brucei., Proteomics, 8, (1), 2008, p83-99
Recognition
Awards and Honours
Trinity Med Research Award 2021
TCD Dean's Research Initiatives Award 2022