Jochen Prehn
Chairman & Head of Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.103.8

The Department of Physiology and Medical Physics is situated in the main college campus on 123 St. Stephen’s Green and at the RCSI Research Institute, York House, York Street, Dublin 2. The Department has an outstanding record in both teaching and research. It has always had a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching and is involved in teaching and examining in five different programmes: Junior Cycle Medicine, Graduate Entry Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing and Physiotherapy.

Academic staff

The department has four full professors and five other academic staff. Prof Jochen Prehn, the Head of Physiology and Medical Physics has been Professor and Chairman, of the Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, at the RCSI since 2003 as well as lecturing students, he is also the co-ordinator of two Centres of Research in the Department, the Centre for Systems Medicine (CSM) and the Centre for the Study of Neurological Disorders (CSND). His research is focused on four areas with a particular emphasis on bioenergetics, mitochondrial physiology, Bcl-2 family proteins and AMPK signaling. Prof David Henshall is a Professor of Neuroscience and lectures to Medical and Pharmacy students. He is also a principal investigator in the Centre for Systems Medicine and his research is focused on cell and molecular mechanisms of epilepsy, in particular the role of microRNA, the modelling and treatment of early-life seizures, ATP-gated receptors as targets for seizure control, and molecular biomarkers of epilepsy. Prof Aidan Bradford is Professor of Cardiovascular and Respiratory Physiology and Vice Dean and Medicine Junior Cycle Director. His research is on airway receptors and reflexes, intermittent hypoxia and sleep apnoea. He has been a member of The Physiological Society for nearly 30 years. Prof Jim Docherty is Full Professor and former Chairman of the Department of Physiology. He has published over 130 full papers in the areas of cardiovascular and autonomic Physiology and Pharmacology. Current main areas of interest: cardiovascular and central actions of stimulants including drugs of abuse; the cardiovascular consequences of portal hypertension. He is a member of The Physiological Society, the BPS and ASPET, and is currently a Senior Editor of BJP.

Other academic staff include Dr Annette Byrne, who is a tenured Senior Lecturer in Physiology & Principal Investigator in the Centre for Systems Medicine in areas of Tumour Biology/Molecular Imaging. Her research focuses on developing cancer therapeutics and biomarkers with a specific focus on brain, breast, and colorectal cancers. Dr Brona Murphy is a Lecturer in the Department of Physiology. She teaches medical and pharmacy students and co-ordinates the SSC research module for undergraduate medical students. Dr Murphy is a principal investigator in the Centre for Systems Medicine and her research focus is on the activation of apoptosis within glioma. Dr Hans-Georg Koenig is a Lecturer in Physiology and teaches Medical and Pharmacy students. Dr Koenig’s research focuses on the regulation of axonal pathology and neurodegeneration. He works on protein interactions and signalling cascades in the axon and axon initial segment with a focus on the regulation of NF-kappaB signalling. These pathways impact profoundly on the pathophysiology of many neurodegenerative diseases, stroke and also developmental disorders of the nervous system.  Dr Tríona Ní Chonghaile recently joined the Department of Physiology as a Research Lecturer and she teaches first-year Medical students. Dr Ni Chongaile is a principal investigator and her main research interests are in mitochondrial apoptosis, epigenetic regulation of apoptosis and haematological malignancies. Dr Tobias Engel is a research lecturer to Medical students and Pharmacy students since 2015. Dr. Engel is a principal investigator and the main focus of his research is the study of purinergic signaling (with the main emphasis on the ATP-gated P2X7 receptor), changes in the ubiquitin-proteasome system and apoptosis-related genes and their influence on neuroprotection and epileptogenesis.

Centres of Excellence

The primary research areas of the Department of Physiology includes: Neurological Disorders, Oncology and Diabetes as well as Respiratory and Cardiovascular Diseases. This has led to the establishment of two centres of excellence within the department, namely the Centre for Systems Medicine (CSM) and the Centre for the Study of Neurological Disorders (CSND). The mission of the CSM is to provide a translational research centre that identifies genes, proteins and metabolites implicated in human disease and utilises systems biology and mathematical approaches in order to develop new prognostic tools for the treatment of cancer, neurological disorders and diabetes, and to develop more targeted therapies for patients. The CSND is the only centre in Ireland devoted to the study of acute and chronic neurological disorders. The mission of the CSND is to advance fundamental knowledge of the basis of neurological disorders by conducting cutting edge research and by providing training to the next generation of scientists. The research fields examined within the CSND include, Epilepsy Stroke, Motor Neuron Disease and the Diabetic Brain.

CSM Outreach Activities

The CSM and RCSI is very committed to the development of novel outreach programmes for schools and the general public which will stimulate discussion on new technologies and materials and the role of science in defining how we live our lives. CSM delivers school resources and hosts activities that influence secondary school curricula. We aim to enthuse students about studying science and provide context for job opportunities in Irish-based industry. Our Transition Year work experience programme ‘Mini –Science’ runs yearly. This week long experience links school students with CSM researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. We also have a steady stream of students that participate on a day trip tour of RCSI and the CSM, who enjoy visiting the labs, talking to researchers and take a tour of the RCSI Medical School.

For information about outreach activities contact Dr Helena Bonner, Education and Outreach, Centre for Systems Medicine.

Further information:
http://www.systemsmedicineireland.ie/http://www.neuro-centre.ie/