Research Seminars

2024 Seminars

Speaker

Dr. Tim Golden, Director of Aseptics at AbbVie Westport

Title:
Aseptic Processing and Contamination Control in the Manufacture of Bio-pharmaceuticals

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre, Thursday 7th November 2024

Speaker

Assoc. Prof. David Harrich, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Australia

Bio: David is a graduate of the University of California San Diego in biochemistry and cell biology (B.Sc) and of the University of California Los Angeles in Experimental Pathology focusing on HIV-1. His post-doctoral studies were at the University of Texas Southwestern (Dallas, Tx) were he was awarded an NIH Infection and Immunity Fellowship. He accepted a Lab Head position in the Sir Albert Sakzewski Virus Research Centre in Brisbane, Queensland Australia and then relocated to QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane in 2002. He was appointed a Group Leader in 2009. His interests include regulation of HIV-1 gene expression by Tat and TAR RNA, the role played by cellular factors in regulating retrovirus and paramyxovirus replication, and more recently on the development of antiviral agents derived from viral RNAs.

Title:
Harnessing defective interfering particles and lipid nanoparticles for effective delivery of an anti-dengue virus RNA therapy

Talk Description: Presently, no approved antiviral drug targets dengue virus (DENV) infection. Treatment mainly relies on supportive measures, while the efficacy of DENV vaccines varies based on factors like vaccine type, circulating DENV serotypes, and the vaccinated population. This research explores using defective interfering particles (DIPs) and lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) to deliver an anti-DENV defective interfering RNA, known as DI290.

Results showed that both DENV DIPs and DI290-loaded LNPs (LNP-290) effectively suppressed DENV infection in human primary monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs), THP-1 macrophages, and human fibroblasts, which are cell types naturally targeted by DENV. In addition to inhibiting DENV, DENV DIPs and LNP-DI290 also inhibit zika virus (ZIKV), yellow fever virus (YFV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in vitro.  Furthermore, LNP-290 demonstrated approximately 98% inhibition of DENV-2 viral loads in IFNAR-deficient mice, which lack functional type I interferon (IFN) receptors, compared to control-treated IFNAR-deficient mice. DI290-mediated inhibition was also effective in IFN regulatory factor 3 and 7 double knockout mice, where viral titers in serum and spleen were undetectable, and no viral RNA was detected in spleen samples from treated mice.

Although DENV inhibits IFN responses, the data suggests that DI290 can activate IFN responses in DENV-2 infected IFNAR-deficient mice, resulting in complete suppression of DENV-2 replication. RNA-Seq data from LNP-290-treated C57BL/6J mice and IFNAR-deficient mice, and human primary MDMs treated with LNP-DI290 or DENV DIPs illustrated that DI290 treatment heightened IFN responses, particularly IFNγ, as well as IFNα/β and IFNλ. DI290 thus induces a broad range of IFN responses, with IFNγ and IFNλ providing antiviral activity when IFNα/β responses are absent.

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre, Thursday 17th October at 1pm

Speaker

Dr. Andrew Mooney, Conservation and Research Officer at Dublin Zoo

Bio: Andrew is the Conservation and Research Officer at Dublin Zoo, where he is responsible for the management and strategic development of all conservation and research activities supported by Dublin Zoo. Andrew did his undergraduate in Zoology at TCD, which was followed by a PhD in Zoology, also at TCD, under the supervision of Prof. Yvonne Buckley. He is currently the Vice Chair of the BIAZA Research Committee, and is a member of the IUCN Animal Biobanking for Conservation Specialist Group.

Title
Genetic Rescue - Realising the Conservation Potential of Biobanking

Talk Description: Recent technological advancements, in conjunction with global biobanking efforts, mean that a suite of genetic tools can now be deployed to restore genetic diversity, reverse global biodiversity loss and even result in species de-extinctions. Using examples from San Diego Zoo to Dublin Zoo, this seminar will explore the emerging science of genetic rescue, highlighting conservation successes to date, current obstacles facing conservation practitioners, and the future conservation potential of biobanking.

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre Thursday 30th May at 1pm

Speaker

Professor Tadhg Ó Cróinín from the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, UCD

Title
Unwinding Campylobacter Virulence, Survival and AMR

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre Thursday 25th April at 1pm

Speaker

Prof. Dr. Olga Kalinina, Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Centre for Infection Research, Saarland University

Title
Overcoming antibacterial drug resistance with the discovery of novel biologically active molecules from natural product

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre Thursday 4th April at 1pm

Speaker

Dr. Eleanor A. Harrison, University of Sheffield

Title
The role of mobile genetic elements and horizontal gene transfer in the rhizobia-legume symbiosis

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre Thursday 29th February at 1pm

Speaker

Dr. Michael Bottery, University of Manchester

Title
The global emergence of antifungal resistance; inevitable or avoidable?

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre Thursday 22nd February at 1pm

Speaker

Professor Charles Van der Henst, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

Title
Regulation of the polysaccharide capsule in the WHO priority pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre Thursday 15th February at 1pm

Prof. Charles Van der Henst

2023 Seminars

Speaker

Professor Beate Averhoff, University of Frankfurt

Title
Acinetobacter baumannii an emerging pathogen: Adaptation to the human host and survival in clinical habitats

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre Thursday 23rd November at 1pm

Professor Beate Averhoff

Speaker
Professor Harmit Malik. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Title
Evolutionary arms races between host and viral genomes

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre Friday 20th October at 1pm

Speaker
Professor Simon Heilbronner. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

Title
Staphylococcal Iron Acquisition at the Host Microbiome Interface

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre Thursday 25th May at 4pm

 

Seminar by Professor Simon Heilbronner

2022 Seminars

Speaker
Professor Ursula Bond, Microbiology, Trinity College Dublin

Title
Packing a Punch: How the unique genomes of Saccharomyces pastorianus are designed for making beer

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre, Tuesday 26th September, 1:00pm

Host
The DU Microbiological Society as part of the Department of Microbiology Seminar Series

 

Dr Ursula Bond, Microbiology SeminarProfessor Bond, Moyne, Microbiology Seminar

Speaker
Professor Ian Henderson, The University of Queensland, Australia

Title
Host lipids define niche-specific colonisation of Salmonella

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre, Wednesday 22nd February, at 2pm

Host
Marta Martins

 

Prof Ian Henderson, Microbiology Seminar

2022 Seminars

Speaker
Dr. Jake Baum, Professor and Head of School of Medical Sciences at UNSW, Sydney

Title
Paratechnology: New tools for malaria control and eradication

Venue & Time
VIA Zoom, Tuesday 11th October at 9:30am - Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82362756284?pwd=cE9uQjY2OWVMeFRwNXFvbHZuVktrZz09

Host
The DU Microbiological Society as part of the Department of Microbiology Seminar Series

 

Dr Jake Baum Microbiology Seminar

Speaker
Professor Syma Khalid, University of Oxford

Title
Step towards computational Microbiology

Venue & Time
Via Zoom; https://tcd-ie.zoom.us/j/92566414391?pwd=YnVicFdxSVFDYnFUV3lnVjIzSSs4Zz09
Meeting ID: 925 6641 4391 Passcode: 247349

Host
Maire Ni Leathlobhair

 

Syma Khalid, Microbiology Seminar

Speaker
Dr. John Lees, EMBL-EBI European Bioinformatics Institute

Title
Bacterial population structure: defining it, visualising it, and using it (appropriately)

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre, Thursday 24th March, 1:00pm (Save the date)

Host
Maire Ni Leathlobhair

 

Dr John Lees, Microbiology Seminar

Speaker
Professor Johannes Wagener, Consultant Microbiologist, St James's Hospital

Title
Molecular aspects of defence against invasive aspergillosis

Abstract : The airborne opportunistic fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus causes severe systemic infections in immunocompromised patients. Multiple mechanisms contribute to the host’s defence against and successful treatment of invasive aspergillosis. We are interested in understanding the molecular aspects of the invasive infection and how antifungal treatments help to eliminate this pathogen from the host.

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre, Thursday 3rd March, 1:00pm (Save the date)

Host
Maire Ni Leathlobhair

 

Professor Johannes Wagener, Microbiology Seminar

2020 Seminars

Speaker
Dr. John MacSharry, APC Microbiome Ireland, School of Medicine & Dept. of Microbiology, University College Cork

Title
Aiming at Asthma, the immune microbiome dialogue

Biography: Dr John Mac Sharry is a  Lecturer in Molecular Microbiology and Assistant director of the GEM programme with the School of Medicine with an affiliation to the Department of Microbiology, Univeristy College Cork. He graduated with a B.Sc. in Microbiology and a Ph.D. in Mucosal Immunology from University College Cork. John worked with Alimentary Health Ltd as Molecular Biology section head collaborating with several multinational research partners.  In 2008 he joined the APC Host Response core as a Post-Doctoral researcher and collaborated on research with GlaxoSmithKline. His research interests are in host-microbe interactions with particular focus on the immune sampling and response in the gut and the lungs.

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre, Thursday 30th January, 1:00pm

Host
Sinead Corr

 

Dr John MacSharry, Microbiology Seminar

Speaker
Professor Martin Cormican, NUI Galway

Title
AMR and Salmonella

Venue & Time
Moyne Lecture Theatre, Thursday 23rd January, 1:00pm

Host
Marta Martins

 

Prof Martin Cormican Microbiology Seminar