Apoptosis
Cluster leader: Dr. Howard Fearnhead
All our cells carry a genetic program that enables a cell to quickly and cleanly kill itself, a form of cell death called apoptosis. This program is found in all metazoans examined and plays important roles at different stages of an organism's life. Apoptosis is activated at various stages during normal embryonic development, removing unwanted cells and so sculpting our tissue and organs. It is also activated in bacterially or virally infected cells and serves to limit the success of these pathogens. Apoptosis is also a stress response, acting to remove damaged cells that can no longer serve a purpose or that pose a threat to the organism as a whole. A failure in the regulation of apoptosis is associated with auto-immune diseases and degenerative diseases (too much apoptosis) and cancer (too little apoptosis).
Researchers within the Apoptosis Cluster investigate the biochemical and molecular basis of apoptotic cell death. The research is focused in three main areas: Neurological Disorders, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer with the aim of developing new therapies for these diseases.
All our cells carry a genetic program that enables a cell to quickly and cleanly kill itself, a form of cell death called apoptosis. This program is found in all metazoans examined and plays important roles at different stages of an organism's life. Apoptosis is activated at various stages during normal embryonic development, removing unwanted cells and so sculpting our tissue and organs. It is also activated in bacterially or virally infected cells and serves to limit the success of these pathogens. Apoptosis is also a stress response, acting to remove damaged cells that can no longer serve a purpose or that pose a threat to the organism as a whole. A failure in the regulation of apoptosis is associated with auto-immune diseases and degenerative diseases (too much apoptosis) and cancer (too little apoptosis).
Researchers within the Apoptosis Cluster investigate the biochemical and molecular basis of apoptotic cell death. The research is focused in three main areas: Neurological Disorders, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer with the aim of developing new therapies for these diseases.
Key Research Areas
Cancer Cells (Fearnhead, Gorman, Samali and Zwacka Groups)
Apoptosis is of fundamental importance to cancer as it both limits tumorigenesis and is also triggered by many cancer chemotherapeutics. Importantly, cancer cells often acquire mutations that compromise the apoptotic process, allowing these cells both to escape normal growth constraints and to become resistant to many anti-cancer drugs, resulting in the emergence of drug-resistant malignancies. Thus discovering how apoptosis is regulated and why it fails in cancer is central both to understanding cancer progression and developing new therapies to counter chemo-resistant cancers.
Neurological Disorders (Fitzgerald and Gorman Group)
Neuronal death by apoptosis is a key contributing factor in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's Chorea and Motor Neurone Disease and stroke. The mechanisms of cell death and pro-survival strategies in neurodegenerative diseases are being investigated.
Oligodendrocytes are brain cells which insulate nerves and may also die by apoptosis after a stroke or during diseases like Multiple Sclerosis. The aim is to use knowledge of apoptosis occurs in neurones and oligodendrocytes to develop novel apoptosis-based therapies for treating these conditions.
Cardiovascular Disease (Samali Group)
Cardiovascular disease kills more Irish men and women of all ages than any other disease and Ireland has the highest rate of deaths before the age of 65 from coronary heart disease in the EuropeanUnion. A contributory factor to pathophysiology of heart diseases is the death of cardiomyocytes in the myocardium by apoptosis therefore understanding the biochemistry of apoptosis is crucial to prevention and treatment of these diseases and research is ongoing to elucidate the role of apoptosis in cardiovascular disease.
Researchers
Apoptosis is of fundamental importance to cancer as it both limits tumorigenesis and is also triggered by many cancer chemotherapeutics. Importantly, cancer cells often acquire mutations that compromise the apoptotic process, allowing these cells both to escape normal growth constraints and to become resistant to many anti-cancer drugs, resulting in the emergence of drug-resistant malignancies. Thus discovering how apoptosis is regulated and why it fails in cancer is central both to understanding cancer progression and developing new therapies to counter chemo-resistant cancers.
Neurological Disorders (Fitzgerald and Gorman Group)
Neuronal death by apoptosis is a key contributing factor in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's Chorea and Motor Neurone Disease and stroke. The mechanisms of cell death and pro-survival strategies in neurodegenerative diseases are being investigated.
Oligodendrocytes are brain cells which insulate nerves and may also die by apoptosis after a stroke or during diseases like Multiple Sclerosis. The aim is to use knowledge of apoptosis occurs in neurones and oligodendrocytes to develop novel apoptosis-based therapies for treating these conditions.
Cardiovascular Disease (Samali Group)
Cardiovascular disease kills more Irish men and women of all ages than any other disease and Ireland has the highest rate of deaths before the age of 65 from coronary heart disease in the EuropeanUnion. A contributory factor to pathophysiology of heart diseases is the death of cardiomyocytes in the myocardium by apoptosis therefore understanding the biochemistry of apoptosis is crucial to prevention and treatment of these diseases and research is ongoing to elucidate the role of apoptosis in cardiovascular disease.
| Principal Investigators: | ||
| Fearnhead, Howard | +353 91 49 5240 | howard.fearnhead@nuigalway.ie |
| Gorman, Adrienne | +353 91 49 2417 | adrienne.gorman@nuigalway.ie |
| Samali, Afshin | +353 91 49 2440 | afshin.samali@nuigalway.ie |
| Zwacka, Ralf | +353 91 49 5323 | ralf.zwacka@nuigalway.ie |
| Fitzgerald, Una | +353 91 49 5045 | una.fitzgerald@nuigalway.ie |
| ODwyer, Michael | ||
| Postdoctoral Researchers: | ||
| Szegezdi, Eva | +353 91 49 5037 | eva.szegezdi@nuigalway.ie |
| Mohr, Andrea | +353 91 49 5323 | andrea.mohr@nuigalway.ie |
| Fabian Zsolt | zsolt.fabian@nuigalway.ie | |
| Postgraduate Researchers: | ||
| Mahalingham, Davalingam | deva@nuigalway.ie | |
| O'Brien, Phillippe | phillipe.obrien@gmail.com | |
| Murray, Thomas | t.murray3@nuigalway.ie | |
| Kennedy, Alan | ||
| Brooks, Colin | c.brooks1@nuigalway.ie | |
| Cuffe, Lorraine | l.cuffe2@nuigalway.ie | |
| O'Connell, Ailish | a.oconnell3@nuigalway.ie | |
| Giricz, Zoltan | zoltan.giricz@nuigalway.ie | |
| Gough, Ronan | ||
| Murphy, Eoin | ||
| Howley, Breege | b.howley3@nuigalway.ie | |
| Research Assistants: | ||
| O'Reilly, Aoife | +353 91 49 5038 | aoife.oreilly@nuigalway.ie |
| Ryan, Maria | +353 91 49 5038 | ryamaria@gmail.com |