Gina Leisching

Affiliation(s):
Trinity College Dublin

Department:
Clinical Medicine/TTMI

Research interests:
SLE; sex differences; autoimmunity

PubMed profile:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=gina+leisching

ORCID Profile
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4764-4781

Biography

My research career has focused on cellular metabolism in human disease, with a growing emphasis on women's health and immunological sex differences. During my PhD at Stellenbosch University, I investigated cisplatin resistance in cervical cancer, demonstrating that targeting protective pathways like autophagy and Bcl-2 could circumvent toxicity and drug resistance, a principle that shaped my approach to therapeutic discovery.

At Trinity, my work has centred on systemic lupus erythematosus, a female-dominant autoimmune disease. I lead a programme investigating immune cell metabolic dysfunction in SLE, uncovering that monocytes, T cells, B cells, and neutrophils exhibit profound metabolic differences linked to disease activity. I have also identified sex-specific metabolic programming in human neutrophil subsets, revealing fundamental differences in how male and female immune cells function.

My research bridges immunometabolism, autoimmunity, and sex as a biological variable, aiming to identify tractable therapeutic targets to improve outcomes for women with chronic inflammatory conditions. I am excited to contribute this expertise to the Trinity Centre for Reproductive Sciences and Women's Health.

Publications

1. Sex‑specific metabolic programming in human neutrophil subsets. AS Yennemadi, FK Murphy, J Keane, G Leisching. Journal of Leukocyte Biology 118(1), qiaf179. 2026

2. Anjali S. Yennemadi, Natasha Jordan, Sophie Diong, Faye K Murphy, Sarah Quidwai, Mark A Little,  Joseph Keane,  Gina Leisching. Neutrophil subsets in SLE exhibit increased glycolysis that correlates with disease activity. bioRxiv. doi:10.64898/2026.05.14.725124 2026.

3.G Leisching, B Loos, M Botha, AM Engelbrecht. A nontoxic concentration of cisplatin induces autophagy in cervical cancer: selective cancer cell death with autophagy inhibition as an adjuvant treatment. International Journal of Gynecological Cancer 25 (3), 380-388.2015

4.GR Leisching, B Loos, MH Botha, AM Engelbrecht. The role of mTOR during cisplatin treatment in an in vitro and ex vivo model of cervical cancer
Toxicology 335, 72-78 2015

5. G Leisching, B Loos, M Botha, AM Engelbrecht. Bcl-2 confers survival in cisplatin treated cervical cancer cells: circumventing cisplatin dose-dependent toxicity and resistance
Journal of translational medicine 13 (1), 328. 2015