Home ▻ Colleges & Schools▻College of Science and Engineering▻Staff Profiles

Staff Profiles

Dr Hannah Prendeville

PhD. in Immunology

Contact Details

Post Doctoral Researcher
Biomedical Engineering Commons
Room 2004 Alice Perry Engineering Building
College of Science and Engineering
University of Galway
E: Hannah.Prendeville@universityofgalway.ie
 
researcher
 

Biography

Award-winning Immunologist skilled in cancer immunology, oncology, and immunometabolism. Proven track record of success in research with publications in high-impact journals including Nature Immunology and the Journal of Experimental Medicine. Strong scientific writing skills with funding from the IRC, EACR, and BSI. Presented at national and international meetings, demonstrating strong oral communication skills. Currently working as a postdoctoral researcher in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Galway, Ireland.

Research Interests

I am interested in uncovering the mechanisms that promote immunosuppression in the tumour microenvironment. Natural Killer (NK) cells are cytotoxic lymphocytes that kill cancer cells through the release of IFNy and cytolytic perforins and granzymes. Within the tumour, NK cells express the inhibitory TIGIT, which suppresses NK cell activation and function upon binding to its ligand CD155. I am currently investigating the effects of TIGIT blockade on NK cell cytotoxicity against ID8 ovarian cancer cells in vitro. Future experiments will deliver anti-TIGIT antibodies to ovarian cancer-bearing mice to determine if this therapeutic strategy can impair tumour growth in vivo.


Research Projects

  Project Start Date End Date
Local repeated delivery of checkpoint blockade therapy through an actuatable reservoir to treat Ovarian Cancer. 17-JUL-23
Intermittent actuation decreases the presence of neutrophils in the pericapsular region of implanted biomaterials. 17-JUL-23

Peer Reviewed Journals

  Year Publication
(2024) 'Rhythmic IL-17 production by ¿¿ T cells maintains adipose de novo lipogenesis'
Douglas, A., Stevens. B., Rendas, M., Kane, H., Lynch. E., Kunkemoeller, B., Wessendorf-Rodriguez, K., Day, E.A., Sutton, C., Brennan, M., O¿Brien, K.L., Kohlgruber, A.C., Prendeville, H., Garza, A.E., O¿Neill, L.A.J., Mills, K.H.G., Metallo, C.M., Veiga-Fernandes, H., Lynch, L. (2024) 'Rhythmic IL-17 production by ¿¿ T cells maintains adipose de novo lipogenesis'. Nature, [Details]
(2024) 'NK cell line modified to express a potent, DR5 specific variant of TRAIL, show enhanced cytotoxicity in ovarian cancer models'
Sheedy, A.M., Burduli, N., Prakash, A., Gurney, M., Hanley, S., Prendeville, H., Sarkar, S., O¿Dwyer, J., O¿Dwyer, M., Dolan, E.B. (2024) 'NK cell line modified to express a potent, DR5 specific variant of TRAIL, show enhanced cytotoxicity in ovarian cancer models'. Heliyon, [Details]
(2024) 'Recognition of yeast ß-glucan particles triggers immunometabolic signaling required for trained immunity'
Cian JH Horneck Johnston, Anna E Ledwith, Mimmi LE Lundahl, Hugo Charles-Messance, Emer E Hackett, Simon D O¿Shaughnessy, Jonah Clegg, Hannah Prendeville, John P McGrath, Aaron M Walsh, Sarah Case, Hollie Austen Byrne, Parth Gautam, Elaine Dempsey, Sinead C Corr, Frederick J Sheedy (2024) 'Recognition of yeast ß-glucan particles triggers immunometabolic signaling required for trained immunity'. Iscience, [Details]
(2023) 'Negative Regulation of Innate Immune Signaling by Components of the Button Mushroom Agaricus bisporus'
Michele O'Sullivan, Elaine Dempsey, Sarah Case, Emer E. Hackett, Anna E. Ledwith, Hannah Prendeville, Tara O'Brien, Faye Lewis, Dearbhla M. Murphy, Supriya Yadav, Jude Wilson, Sinead C. Corr, Frederick J. Sheedy (2023) 'Negative Regulation of Innate Immune Signaling by Components of the Button Mushroom Agaricus bisporus'. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, [Details]
(2022) 'Cysteine 253 of UCP1 regulates energy expenditure and sex-dependent adipose tissue inflammation'
Evanna L Mills, Cathal Harmon, Mark P Jedrychowski, Haopeng Xiao, Anja V Gruszczyk, Gary A Bradshaw, Nhien Tran, Ryan Garrity, Dina Laznik-Bogoslavski, John Szpyt, Hannah Prendeville, Lydia Lynch, Michael P Murphy, Steven P Gygi, Bruce M Spiegelman, Edward T Chouchani (2022) 'Cysteine 253 of UCP1 regulates energy expenditure and sex-dependent adipose tissue inflammation'. Cell Metabolism, [Details]
(2022) 'Diet, lipids, and antitumor immunity'
Hannah Prendeville, Lydia Lynch (2022) 'Diet, lipids, and antitumor immunity'. Cellular and Molecular Immunology, [Details]
(2022) 'Suppressive effects of the obese tumor microenvironment on CD8 T cell infiltration and effector function'
Lydia Dyck, Hannah Prendeville, Mathilde Raverdeau, Mieszko M Wilk, Roisin M Loftus, Aaron Douglas, Janet McCormack, Bruce Moran, Michael Wilkinson, Evanna L Mills, Michael Doughty, Aurelie Fabre, Helen Heneghan, Carel LeRoux, Andrew Hogan, Edward T Chouchani, Donal O¿Shea, Donal Brennan, Lydia Lynch (2022) 'Suppressive effects of the obese tumor microenvironment on CD8 T cell infiltration and effector function'. Journal of Experimental Medicine, [Details]
(2021) 'Distinct metabolic programs established in the thymus control effector functions of ¿¿ T cell subsets in tumor microenvironments'
Noella Lopes, Claire McIntyre, Stefania Martin, Mathilde Raverdeau, Nital Sumaria, Ayano C. Kohlgruber, Gina J. Fiala, Leandro Z. Agudelo, Lydia Dyck, Harry Kane, Aaron Douglas, Stephen Cunningham, Hannah Prendeville, Roisin Loftus, Colleen Carmody, Philippe Pierre, Manolis Kellis, Michael Brenner, Rafael J. Argüello, Bruno Silva-Santos, Daniel J. Pennington & Lydia Lynch (2021) 'Distinct metabolic programs established in the thymus control effector functions of ¿¿ T cell subsets in tumor microenvironments'. Nature Immunology, [Details]
(2021) 'UCP1 governs liver extracellular succinate and inflammatory pathogenesis'
Evanna L. Mills, Cathal Harmon, Mark P. Jedrychowski, Haopeng Xiao, Ryan Garrity, Nhien V. Tran, Gary A. Bradshaw, Accalia Fu, John Szpyt, Anita Reddy, Hannah Prendeville, Nika N. Danial, Steven P. Gygi, Lydia Lynch & Edward T. Chouchani (2021) 'UCP1 governs liver extracellular succinate and inflammatory pathogenesis'. Nature Metabolism, [Details]
(2017) 'The Induction of Pro¿IL-1ß by Lipopolysaccharide Requires Endogenous Prostaglandin E2 Production'
Zbigniew Zas¿ona; Eva M. Pålsson-McDermott; Deepthi Menon; Moritz Haneklaus; Ewelina Flis; Hannah Prendeville; Sarah E. Corcoran; Marc Peters-Golden; Luke A. J. O¿Neill (2017) 'The Induction of Pro¿IL-1ß by Lipopolysaccharide Requires Endogenous Prostaglandin E2 Production'. Journal Of Immunology, [Details]

Conference Publications

  Year Publication
(2022) International Journal of Gynecological Cancer
Martin Brennan, Lydia Dyck, Hannah Prendeville, Donal Brennan, Lydia Lynch (2022) 38/# 924 Immunometabolic changes during weight loss induce tumor immunogenicity resulting in tumor regression International Journal of Gynecological Cancer [Details]

Honours and Awards

  Year Title Awarding Body
2024 European Congress of Immunology Travel Fellowship European Congress of Immunology
2019 BST Travel Fellowship British Society for Immunology
2019 EACR Travel Fellowship European Association for Cancer Research
2018 Jane Grimson Medal of Excellence Irish Research Council
2018 Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Irish Research COuncil

Employment

  Employer Position From / To
University of Galway Postdoctoral Researcher 17-JUL-23 /
Trinity College Dublin Postdoctoral Fellow 01-MAR-22 / 23-JUN-23

Education

  Year Institution Qualification Subject
2017 Trinity College Dublin BSc in Human Health and Disease Human Health and Disease
2023 UCD Professional Academy Certificate in Data Analytics Introductory Data Analytics using Python
2022 Trinity College Dublin PhD in Immunology Immunology

Community Engagement

  Title Type From / To
Outreach Founder of STEM book club Galway 06-AUG-24 /
Outreach Pint of Science Volunteer /

Modules Taught

  Term/Year Module Title Module Code Subject / Desc
October - December 2022 TCD - MSc Immunotherapeutics tutorials

Internal Collaborators

  Name Description of Collaboration
Dr Eimear Dolan
I am a postdoctoral researcher in Dr Eimear Dolan's lab in Biomedical Engineering, University of Galway.

External Collaborators

  Name Organisation / Institute Country Description of Collaboration
Prof Michael O'Dwyer University Hospital Galway IRELAND
Prof O'Dwyer is a consultant Hematologist and founding director of ONK Therapeutics. His clinical expertise are invaluable in designing effective treatment regmines and strategies to treat ovarian cancer.