Dr. Elaine Dunleavy is a cell and molecular biologist interested in the regulation of centromeres, key chromosomal loci that oversee proper chromosome segregation during cell division. Dr. Dunleavy graduated from the National University of Ireland, Galway with a BSc in Biotechnology in 2002. She received a Wellcome Trust Four Year Studentship to complete her PhD in Life Sciences at the University of Edinburgh in 2007, under the supervision of Prof. Robin Allshire. During her PhD, using fission yeast as a model system, Dr. Dunleavy began to develop her now long-standing interest in centromere biology. She carried out her postdoctoral research at the Curie Institute in Paris in the laboratory of Dr. Genevieve Almouzni, where she identified the key human centromere assembly factor HJURP, a major finding in the field. In 2010, Dr. Dunleavy received a postdoctoral fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program to investigate centromere assembly mechanisms in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster in the laboratory of Dr. Gary Karpen at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley. In 2013, Dr. Dunleavy was awarded a Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellow in Basic Biomedical Science, and joined the Centre for Chromosome Biology (CCB) at the University of Galway. At the CCB, Dr. Dunleavy continues to use the fruit fly as an experimental system to explore chromosome segregation mechanisms during meiosis, the special type of cell division that gives rise to gametes (eggs and sperm). She was awarded an SFI President of Ireland Young Researcher Award in 2015 to explore centromere function in germ stem cells. In 2022, Dr. Dunleavy was awarded an SFI Frontiers for the Future Award to continue her research into centromere function in germ cells and early embryogenesis in flies and bovine model systems.

My research aim is to understand how genome integrity is maintained during cell division. To investigate this aim, I use the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and bovine Bos taurus as developmental model systems. Specifically, I am interested in how centromeres, key chromosomal domains that coordinate proper chromosome segregation, are regulated in stem cells and meiosis (the production of gametes). This research is important, as stem cell maintenance is required for tissue homeostasis and regeneration, while errors in meiosis result in aneuploid eggs, sperm and zygotes that can lead to fertility, reproductive and birth defects.

I teach 1st and 2nd years modules on Genetics amp; Genomicsas part of the new BSc in Genetics and Genomics (launched in 2020).I also contribute a series of lectures on Meiosis as part of a 4th year Biochemistry module Advanced Chromosome Biology.I coordinate 4th year Biochemistry module Literature Review and Poster Presentation.