Dr. Carty received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Biochemistry at the National University of Ireland, Galway, in 1986. He then obtained a Fogarty International fellowship to carry out post-doctoral research at the National Institutes of Health at Bethesda, MD, in the area of DNA replication in mammalian cells. From 1991, at the Department of Environmental Health at the University of Cincinnati Medical School, Dr. Carty carried out research on cellular responses to agents that damage DNA, especially ultraviolet light, a major cause of skin cancer. Dr. Carty took up a position as a College Lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry at the National University of Ireland, Galway in 2000. He is currently Senior Lecturer and Head of Biochemistry, School of Natural Sciences, NUI Galway.Dr. Carty is head of the DNA Damage Response laboratory in the Centre for Chromosome Biology, NUI Galway. His research group focuses on how the loss of genome stability contributes to cancer development, and on the molecular responses of human cells to UV light, and to DNA damaging agents such as cisplatin that are used in cancer therapy. In collaboration with Prof. Frank Barry (Regenerative Medicine Institute) the responses of human mesenchymal stem cells to cisplatin and ionising radiation have also been characterised. In addition, the response of human cancer cell lines to novel mitomycin C-related chemical compounds is being investigated in an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Fawaz Aldabbagh (School of Chemistry, NUI Galway).

Responses of human cells to DNA damage, in particular following expousre to ultraviolet radiation and platinum-based chemotherapeutic drugs; Genome instability; the POLH gene and DNA polymerase eta; PIKK kinases and Replication protein A phosphorylation after DNA damage; DNA damage responses in mesenchymal stem cells; responses to long wavelength UVA radiation in melanocytes.