BIOGRAPHY:

2019-present: Personal Professor of Microbiology, University of Galway, IRELAND.
2014-2019: SeniorLecturer, Microbiology, NUI Galway, IRELAND.
2009-2014: Vice dean for Internationalisation,Collegeof Science, NUI Galway, IRELAND.
2002-2009: Lecturer, Microbiology, NUI Galway, IRELAND.
2000-2002: University Lecturer, University of Aberdeen, SCOTLAND.
1997-2000: ACT(R) Post Doctoral Fellow, University of Aberdeen, SCOTLAND.
1994-1997: Post Doctoral Researcher, Colworth Laboratory, Unilever Plc, ENGLAND.
1990-1994: PhD, University of Dundee (Biochemistry), SCOTLAND.
1986-1990: BSc, Microbiology, University College Cork, IRELAND .

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Bacterial food-borne pathogens; Listeria monocytogenes; Escherichia coli
Molecular responses to stress 
Osmoregulation
Acid stress responses
Sigma factors span
Mechanisms of environmental persistence
Transcriptional responses to environmental stimuli

SYNOPSIS OF ACTIVITY:

The Bacterial Stress Response Group was established in 2000 in the University of Aberdeen and then relocated to NUI Galway in 2002. Research activity within the group centres on an interest in the mechanisms that food-borne bacterial pathogens use to respond and adapt to environmental perturbations. Research projects have focussed on important bacterial pathogens including Salmonella Typhimurium, Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes, all of which cause significant food-borne infections in humans. This research is essential to develop a more complete understanding of how bacterial cells grow and persist in the environment. An understanding of how these pathogens adapt to their environment will also be central to any strategy aimed at curbing their growth both within the host and within the food-chain. Several projects focus on understanding the molecular responses to stress in the human pathogen Listeria monocytogenes, including its responses to oxygen depletion, acidic conditions, increased osmolarity, and light. We collabaorate with researchers throughout Ireland, in the UK and accross Europe. Most recently we lead a MSCA ITN project with 13 PhD students called PATHSENSE, which examined molecular mechansisms of stress sensing in bacteria. Currently research in the group is funded by Research Ireland and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.