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Dr Joanne Lysaght

Dr. Joanne Lysaght graduated from N.U.I Maynooth with an Honours Degree in Science and then went on to complete a PhD in 2005, in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology in Trinity College Dublin. The main focus of her Ph.D was the modulation of innate and adaptive anti-tumour immune responses. Following completion of her Ph.D, she began work as a clinical scientist in the Cancer Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory based in St. James’s Hospital. She then took up a post-doctoral position in the Department of Haematology and Oncology, TCD and worked on a novel family of chemotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

In 2008, she began working in the Department of Surgery, TCD/St. James's Hospital. Her research focused on the impact of obesity on anti-tumour immune responses in gastrointestinal cancer patients, with a particular focus on T lymphocytes. In 2009, Dr. Lysaght was awarded a HRB Post-Doctoral fellowship for her work in the area of obesity and tumour immunity. In September 2011, she was appointed Ussher Lecturer in Molecular Oncology and was part of a team who established the award winning M.Sc. in Translational Oncology. She is course co-ordinator for this M.Sc. and module co-ordinator for the M.Sc. in Immunology. She lectures to both undergraduate and postgraduate students in TCD and guest lectures at St. Luke’s Hospital, in the areas of tumour immunology, inflammation, immunotherapy, tumour microenvironment, oncology and lifestyle factors affecting immunity.

In 2015 Dr. Lysaght was appointed Assistant Professor in the School of Medicine. She has an active research group has authored a number manuscripts in the area of tumour immunity, obesity, immune modulation and lymphocyte trafficking. Other ongoing research projects are examining the impact of obesity on hepatic inflammation and post-operative recovery, elucidating the role of adaptive immunity in the progression of pre-malignant conditions to cancer, identifying new immunotherapeutic strategies and targets for gastrointestinal cancers and understanding the role of the inflammation in conditions such as cancer cachexia.