I am Head of Genomics at the Pirbright Institute (UK). We are working on reducing virus spread by understanding their evolution, genome structure and population genetics, particularly across the pathogens, vectors and hosts.
I was a Lecturer in Genomics at the School of Biotechnology in Dublin City University (DCU, Ireland) from 2015-22 where I led a group focusing on Infection Genomics. I was also Chairperson of the Genetics & Cell Biology degree in 2016-19 and I completed a Fellow (FHEA) of AdvanceHE qualification (2021). Prior to this, I was a Lecturer in Bioinformatics at the School of Maths, Applied Maths & Statistics at the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway (2012-2014; adjunct 2015-2017) which strengthened my knowledge of bioinformatics and statistics. I completed a Postgraduate Certificate (2013) in Teaching & Learning at NUIG where I first began lecturing – I also completed additional modules at PGDip level. I was a Postdoctoral Fellow (2009-2012) in the Parasite Genomics group at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (UK) with Prof. Matt Berriman and Prof. James Cotton. This work focused on the genomics and evolution of Leishmania parasites, a neglected tropical disease. I did my Ph.D. in Genetics in 2005-09 at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) on “Population and genomic variation of immune genes in chicken” with Prof. Dan Bradley. I completed an M.Sc. in Bioinformatics at the School of Computing in DCU on “A Computer Simulation of the Genealogy of the Icelandic Population” in 2005. This followed a B.A. (Mod) in Human Genetics at Smurfit Institute of Genetics in TCD in 2004.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland