Prof. Jacintha O'Sullivan
Professor in Translational Oncology and Education Lead for the Trinity St. James’s Cancer Institute
- Research Institute:
Trinity Translational Medicine Institute (TTMI)
- Contact e-mail:
- Research Area(s):
Gastrointestinal inflammatory diseases and cancers; Tumour microenvironment- cross talk to immune cells; Treatment resistance; Drug Discovery; Metabolism; Inflammation; Angiogenesis; Hypoxia; Inflammatory and cancer Ex vivo models; Diagnostic platforms
Research Description:
Prof. Jacintha O’Sullivan is a Professor in Translational Oncology and Education Director based at the Trinity St. James’s Hospital Cancer Institute. She is internationally recognised in the area of translational gastrointestinal cancer work with many publications in high impact journals. Her work has attracted funding from many different sources for example, Science Foundation Ireland, Health Research Board, Breakthrough Cancer Research, Irish Cancer Society, Irish Research Council, Enterprise Ireland and from many industry and charity collaborators. She received the honour of college fellowship in 2019 for recognition of research excellence in her subject area and has served as external assessor for many Ph.D. students, taught courses, and grant reviews nationally and internationally. She has filed and published many patents to drive the innovation and commercialisation aspects to her research programme. In 2022, she received an innovation award for engagement in academic industry partnerships. She has graduated over 30 postgraduate Ph.D. and MD students and is passionate about career mentoring. She was awarded IRC Research Ally Award for recognition of excellence as a supervisor/mentor. She has also received in 2023 and 2024, an award for excellence in supervision of research students. She utilises well established bio-banking structures to drive this GI translational research program. Prof. O Sullivan's current translational research themes include:
1. Development of diagnostic platforms to stratify cancer risk and response to targeted therapies for gastrointestinal diseases.
2. Development of novel patented therapeutics and novel technologies to be used in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment setting for gastrointestinal cancer patients (Pan GI) to boost treatment responses.
3. Elucidating how the tumour microenvironment cross talks to the immune system in GI patients.
4. Importance of metabolism, inflammation, and obesity in driving disease progression and in regulating treatment response in GI diseases.
The outputs of these translational themes will benefit patient care, treatment, and management for gastrointestinal diseased patients.
