Lessons Learned from Pharmacology: People & Opportunities are the Best Medicine
Posted on: 27 May 2024
The inaugural lecture of Professor Lorraine O’Driscoll, entitled “Lessons Learned from Pharmacology: People & Opportunities are the Best Medicine” will take place on Thursday 30th May at 6pm in Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute.
Register to attend this event on Eventbrite.
About Lessons Learned from Pharmacology: People & Opportunities are the Best Medicine
A core component of Lorraine’s research is on extracellular vesicles (EVs), a niche area she has championed in Ireland while ably aided by her great research team. As will be exemplified during this Lecture, different EVs –tiny packages of information released by cells in our body– have roles in both health and disease. Lorraine’s team made the original discovery that EVs from cancer cells (“bad cells”) can spread anti-cancer drug-resistance. EVs are also involved in immune suppression and cancer metastasis. But those detected in the blood may help in cancer diagnosis and choosing the best treatment option for a cancer patient.
The O’Driscoll team has also shown that EVs from healthy mesenchymal stems cells (“good cells”) hold promise for better hip replacements and may also have use as a therapy in rheumatoid arthritis. Milk EVs are credited with passing immune protection from mother to infant and the team has generated evidence that EVs may be suitable as natural drug or vaccine oral delivery vehicles. However, they have also found that EVs are destroyed in the processing of milk in infant milk formula and so corrections to this may be valuable.
About Prof O'Driscoll
Lorraine is Professor of Pharmacology and Biomedicine in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Trinity College Dublin; a School that Lorraine describes as hardworking, successful, and collegial. Lorraine is a Principal Investigator in Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI), and the Research Lead of the Trinity St James’s Cancer Institute (TSJCI). Lorraine is an elected Fellow of both TCD (FTCD), and of the Royal Society for Biology UK (FRSB), and Vice-President of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA).
About Inaugural Lectures
It is the tradition in that newly appointed Professors in Trinity are invited to give an Inaugural Lecture. The lecture represents the official recognition of their appointment to Professor and the lecture itself provides an opportunity to showcase their achievements in research, innovation, engagement and teaching activities before an audience of members of the University community, invited stakeholders and the general public. An inaugural lecture is a significant event in an academic staff member’s career.
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