Dr. Ailbhe Brazel

Ailbhe Brazel is a Teaching Fellow in the Botany Discipline and leads independent research in epigenetic regulation of plant stress responses.

Throughout her research career, Ailbhe has answered fundamental questions about how cells respond to signals from their environment. Ailbhe completed her undergraduate degree in Genetics at Trinity College Dublin and went on to complete a PhD studying mammalian epigenetic regulation in developing red blood cells at the University of Edinburgh. She then worked as a postdoc on plant epigenetic regulation at the Max Planck Institute of Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany and also worked on the role of the ubiquitin system in Parkinson’s disease and immune oncology at the University of Liverpool.

Ailbhe was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship which she undertook in the Biology Department at Maynooth University in 2021. There, she established a line of research combining her expertise to investigate epigenetic regulation of plant stress responses. Ailbhe then spent one year working as an Assistant Lecturer in the Biology Department at Maynooth University where she contributed to both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching delivering lectures, practicals and assessments.

In 2024 Ailbhe joined the Botany Discipline at Trinity College Dublin as a Teaching Fellow on the ERC-funded TERRAFORM project. Here, she will contribute to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching while continuing to develop her research in epigenetic regulation of plant stress responses.

Ailbhe is also passionate about supporting equality, diversity and inclusion in academia, as well as outreach activities. She has been actively involved in organising Athena Swan initiatives such as networking events and Women in Science Lectures. Ailbhe has also written for RTE Brainstorm (https://www.rte.ie/author/1445312-ailbhe-brazel/) and developed outreach activities using musical instruments to explain epigenetic regulation to children.