James Gahan received his PhD in 2017 from the University of Galway. He then performed Postdoctoral research first at the University of Bergen in Norway and then at the University of Oxford and University of California, San Francisco. During this time he was awarded a Wellcome Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. In 2024 James returned to the University of Galway as a principle investigator in the Centre for Chromosome Biology and Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences. He was also awarded the prestigious ERC starting grant and a Research Ireland FFP award. 

The Gahan lab works on early animal evolution with a particular focus on chromatin and gene regulation. The lab uses two model systems. Firstly, the lab studies choanoflagellates, the closest unicellular relatives of animals, to understand which aspects of cell differentiation may predate the emergence of animals. Secondly, the group uses the cnidarian, Nematostella vectensis, as a representative basally branching animal, to study the role of chromatin in cell differentiation in a relatively “simple” animal. Overall, the group aim to understand how changes in chromatin-based gene regulation may have contributed to major transitions in metazoan evolution.