Co-Directors
Adrienne Gorman
Investigator
adrienne.gorman
universityofgalway.ie
Dr Gorman is a senior lecturer in Biochemistry and a PI in the Apoptosis Research Centre at University of Galway. She is the Vice Dean for Research in the College of Science. Her research is focused on cell death and survival signalling, with a particular interest in cell survival signalling that is mediated by activation of cell stress response pathways.
Dr Gorman has developed a strong expertise in cellular stress response pathways, including the heat shock response and the unfolded protein response. Cells normally exhibit low basal activation of these pathways, but they can be constitutively activated in cancer cells to promote survival. Dr Gorman characterised the role of heat shock proteins, Hsp27 and Hsp70, in promoting survival of cells exposed to cytotoxic and physiological stresses in models of neurodegenerative disease.
Dr Gorman identified a novel biochemical mechanism by which cells can recover following activation of cell death pathways via a pathway that involves the lysosomal degradation of activated caspases (the enzymes that execute cells during apoptotic cell death).
Dr Gorman’s research has broad relevance and has potential implications for the treatment of a range of diseases including cancers, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
Dr Gorman received the University of Galway President’s award for Research Excellence in postgraduate supervision in 2016. She is a funded PI on two H2020-MSCA-ITN programmes. She is actively involved in industry collaboration through Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnerships and Science Foundation Ireland Technology Innovation Development Awards. She is founder and Director of a start-up company, Cell Stress Discoveries.
Dr Gorman has over 10,000 citations and a h-index of 37 (Google Scholar). She has published in journals including Pharmacol Ther (IF 8.56), EMBO Reports (IF 7.74), Cell Mol Life Sci (IF 6.57), Cell Death and Disease (IF 6.04).
Dr Gorman is a member of the Editorial Board of Clinical and Translational Medicine and the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. She has been an expert grant reviewer for Wellcome Trust, Austrian Science Fund, Weston Brain Institute, French National Cancer Institute, Canada and Health Research Board of Ireland. She has reviewed research papers for over 20 journals.
Related Links
https://www.universityofgalway.ie/our-research/people/natural-sciences/adriennegorman/