Research
RESEARCH
Translational Research
The primary focus of our work is “translational research”, that is research which spans the laboratory and the clinic. Prior to the translational era of cancer research, there was a division between medical researchers who investigated new treatments in patients, and cancer scientists, whose work sometimes seemed to have limited relevance to the real world of cancer sufferers.
In the translational approach, all of the new treatments which are tested in patients are derived from solid scientific observations which were made in the laboratory. Similarly, information about the effects of new treatments on the patient and on their cancer is fed back to the laboratory scientists, in order to make the lab research maximally relevant to patient care. Your donations are used to support translational researchers based in Dublin City University and University College Dublin.
CCRT Research
Dr Debbie O’Reilly
In January 2024, Dr. Debbie O’Reilly has been awarded a 2-year Caroline Foundation Research Fellowship.
Dr. Debbie O’Reilly achieved a first-class honors degree in Biopharmaceutical Science from DKIT in 2016. Subsequently, she pursued a Ph.D. at DCU, supported by the Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Programme. Her doctoral research focused on investigating calcium channels and their role in the development of castrate-resistant prostate cancer. During her Ph.D., Dr. O’Reilly secured funding through a COST Action, enabling a Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM) and a placement in the Nutrition, Growth, and Cancer team at INSERM (L’Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale) at the University of Tours.
In 2020, Dr. O’Reilly assumed the role of postdoctoral researcher within the Cancer Biotherapeutics group at DCU. This position was an integral part of the ACORN project (trAnslational Cancer research On pan-HER inhibitioN), funded through a Science Foundation Ireland Strategic Partnerships Award, co-funded by Puma Biotechnology. The primary aim of the ACORN project was to identify biomarkers indicative of response to HER2-targeted therapies.
As The Caroline Foundation Research Fellow, Dr. O’Reilly will continue her research in HER2-targeted therapies within the Cancer Biotherapeutics group at DCU. Her specific focus lies in identifying biomarkers associated with treatment resistance.
CCRT Research
Dr Javier Sanchez Ramirez
Dr. Javier Sánchez Ramírez graduated as a biochemist at the Faculty of Biology, Havana University. He worked at the two most prestigious Cuban research institutes: Center of Molecular Immunology and Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology. In the latter, he worked in the Cancer Immunotherapy Group at the Department of Biomedical Research in the fields of Molecular Biology and Immunology, gaining his PhD in Biological Sciences. His work was focused in the development of therapeutic vaccine candidates for cancer treatment. Dr Sánchez Ramírez commences work with the Cancer Biotherapeutics group in DCU as The Caroline Foundation Research Fellow investigating the role of the immune system in HER2+ breast cancer.
CCRT Research
Dr Neil Conlon
Dr Neil Conlon is the CCRT Grace Stimpson research fellow based in Dublin City University (DCU).
Neil received a BSc (Double Hons.) in Biology and Chemistry from Maynooth University in 2013. Following this, he completed his PhD in Cancer Biology at DCU in 2018. His PhD examined the ways in which breast cancers can become resistant to HER2-targeted therapies. Neil conducted postdoctoral research in DCU funded by Puma Biotechnology and was then awarded an Irish Research Council Enterprise Partnership Scheme postdoctoral fellowship, co-funded by CCRT. In 2020, Neil received the EACR junior investigator award from the Irish Association for Cancer Research.
Neil is group lead of the Breast and Gynaecological Oncology Targeted Therapies research group in DCU. The group aims to find new treatment options for breast and gynaecological cancers, using a comprehensive pre-clinical approach to investigate potential new treatments. The group also examines how drugs that are approved for other diseases can be repurposed to treat poor prognosis cancers.
CCRT Research
Letizia Palanga
Letizia Palanga is a PhD student funded through the IRC-Enterprise Partnership Scheme in partnership with CCRT. Her PhD project entitled “Microfluidic techniques to develop pre-clinical tumour-derived models for analysis of personalised therapies in uveal melanoma”.Herresearch focuses on the development of new 2D cell line and 3D organoid models for primary uveal melanoma, providing preclinical models to mirror the genetic landscape of the disease. Using novel and established models, she screens drug response matched to genetic profiles to identify the most efficient combination treatments to help guide personalised therapy.
CCRT Research
Charlotte Andrieu
Charlotte Andrieu is a post-doctoral researcher funded by CCRT. Her research focuses on determining the genomic profile of exceptional responders in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients using next generation sequencing. As a researcher in bioinformatics, she is interested in cancer genetics and in understanding the mechanisms involved in cancer progression and treatment response.
CCRT Research
Anita White
Anita has been working as a translational oncology research assistant for the past two years funded by the CCRT through the generous support of a donor, an Irish Family Foundation, enabling us to undertake this work.
She has a Masters degree in Biotechnology and has been working in the academic research environment for the past five years. She has assisted or led multiple projects ongoing in the lab including investigating the synergistic impact of applying dual and triple drug combinations across various cancer cell types harbouring a p53 mutation. She is currently working on a project related to applying targeting drug therapeutic regimens in various clinically relevant breast cancer cell models which she has developed in the lab using genetic engineering approaches. The aim of the project is to aid in understanding how better to predict breast cancer patient response to certain targeted therapies.
CCRT Research
Niall Ashfield
Niall Ashfield is a PhD researcher funded by CCRT through the IRC Enterprise Partnership Scheme. His project is entitled “Investigating the combination of tyrosine kinase inhibitors and antibody-drug conjugates in HER2+ cancers”. This examines the efficacy and mechanism of novel drug combinations in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer and aims to provide pre-clinical rationale for the eventual implementation of such combinations in clinical practice. This work has included the development and characterisation of an ADC-resistant cell line in order to study the mechanisms of resistance and identify other treatments that may still be effective in this setting.
CCRT Research
Subhasree Rajaram
Subhasree Rajaram is a post-doctoral researcher funded by CCRT, working under the supervision of Professor Duffy and Professor Crown. Her research focuses on developing therapies for the treatment of breast cancer, particularly triple-negative breast cancer. As a molecular biologist, her main focus is on discovering new drugs aimed at blocking genes (e.g., mutant p53) involved in driving the growth of triple-negative breast cancer
CCRT Research
Minhong Tang
Minhong Tang is a post-doctoral researcher funded by CCRT, working with Professor Joe Duffy in the Breast Cancer Research Group at University College Dublin, based in St. Vincent’s University Hospital. My research focuses on developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of breast cancer, particularly triple-negative breast cancer. As an oncology researcher, I am particularly interested in cancer treatment strategies targeting the MYC gene, which is overexpressed in most breast cancer patients. However, targeting MYC is challenging due to the lack of suitable binding pockets. Therefore, my aim is to discover novel therapeutics that can effectively target MYC to treat breast cancer.
CCRT Research
Joe Duffy
Professor Michael J (Joe) Duffy has a long, established career in clinical
biochemistry practice and cancer research. After graduating from NUI, Galway and earning a PhD at the University of Manchester, he went on to become a Post Doctorate Fellow in Trinity College Dublin. He is now adjunct Professor in the School of Medicine at University College Dublin, having previously worked as Principal biochemist at St Vincents University Hospital. Professor Duffy has an international reputation for his work on cancer biomarkers . He has published in excess of 250 papers on this topic, including articles in high impact journals such as Lancet, BMJ, J Natl Cancer Instit, Cancer Res, Clin Cancer Res, Ann Oncol and Clin Chem. His work has been cited > 16,000 times and his current h-index is 71. One of his main contributions has been the development of a test for identifying patients with breast cancer who may not need chemotherapy. This test, which involves measurement of the urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) marker, is now recommended for clinical use by several expert groups including the American Society of Clinical Oncology. In 2012, Professor Duffy was the recipient of the 2012 Abbott Award of the International Society of Oncology and BioMarkers (ISOBM). This award is made annually to investigators who have made an outstanding contribution in the field of basic or clinical oncology. Other awards received by Professor Duffy include the St Luke’s Medal Lecture, the Conway Review Medal Lecture and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland and the National Committee for Biochemistry Award Medal Lecture of the Royal Irish Academy. In 2020, Professor Duffy received the Irish Association for Cancer Research Award for his Outstanding Contribution to Cancer Medicine & Research. Professor Duffy continues to conduct and supervise cancer research as part of the CCRT funded Ned Ryan Fellowship.
CCRT Research
Laura Ivors
Laura Ivers (MSc.) has been working as a CCRT funded research assistant since 2020. She is based between DCU and the research labs in St. Vincent’s University hospital. She is involved in various translational research projects including investigation of Immune checkpoint inhibitors and monoclonal antibody therapies in HER+ cancers and developing organoid models of metastatic uveal melanoma biopsy samples. Her day-to-day work involves processing blood samples to extract PBMCs and Plasma, processing patient biopsy samples to generate 3D patient-derived organoid cultures, sectioning patient FFPE tumour blocks for DNA extraction & Immunohistochemistry (IHC).
RESEARCH
Clinical Research
Clinical Research:The CCRT Clinical Research team is the oncology clinical trials team based at St Vincent’s University Hospital. Since 2016 we have opened over 200* clinical trials and enrolled over 900* patients in clinical research studies. Should you be interested in partaking in a clinical trial, the first person to contact is your doctor.
*estimate since 2016
Our Clinical Research Team
Jo Ballot
Clinical Research Manager
Karen Culhane
Operations and Finance Manager
Deirdre McDonnell
Clinical Research Co-Ordinator
Susan Cairney
Clinical Research Co-Ordinator
Amy Mahon
Clinical Research Co-Ordinator
Helen Goodman
Clinical Research Co-Ordinator
Fausta Barizaite
Study Start-Up Manager
Mary Doyle
Clinical Data Manager
Amy Dunne
Data & Safety Coordinator
Martyna Nowicka
Quality & Training Coordinator
Oliver Clements
Translational Research Assistant
Silvia Pagella
Clinical Research Assistant