Professor Sean Doyle was born in Waterford, Ireland, attended Mount Sion School and secured an industrial scholarship to attend Waterford Regional Technical College (now SETU). He graduated from University College Cork in 1985 with a 1st class BSc (Biochemistry). Subsequently, he successfully completed a PhD (Biochemistry) at UCC in 1989 under the supervision of Professor Shawn Doonan on ‘The purification and primary structure analysis of human liver cytosolic aspartate aminotransferase.’. He emigrated to the UK in 1989 and undertook research roles at Unilever Research and Wellcome Diagnostics, and in the latter position made enabling contributions to the development and manufacture of the first advanced diagnostic systems for Hepatitis C antibody detection to be deployed in blood transfusion centres in the UK and Europe. Returning to Ireland in 1994 he became Head of R&D at Biotrin, a start-up medical diagnostic company where amongst other contributions, he and his team played a lead role in developing and securing unprecedented US FDA approval for two Parvovirus B19 diagnostic systems. These tests were, and are, used to screen individuals for Parvovirus B19 exposure, especially pregnant women where viral infection can lead to foetal loss. In 1997 he was recruited by Maynooth University as a Lecturer to direct the BSc (Biotechnology). After multiple original contributions to parvovirology, he turned his attention to another infectious disease of humans, Aspergillosis, caused by the fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. His interest in A. fumigatus coincided with the availability of the entire fungal genome, next generation sequencing and a desire to train the next generation of Researchers. Thus, using both advanced molecular biology approaches and protein mass spectrometry, his research team and collaborators have made seminal findings and discoveries in fungal biosynthetic gene cluster functionality, self-resistance to toxin biosynthesis, integrated metabolic systems in filamentous fungi and the biotechnological application of fungal metabolites. The latter for both disease diagnosis and potentially overcoming antibiotic resistance, one of the major global health problems of the 21st Century. He has published extensively. In particular, his research has focused on fungal metal-chelating peptides, the biosynthesis of which has yielded extensive new knowledge on what was, and some would say remains, a cryptic molecular black box system. Professor Doyle was promoted to Full Professor in 2022 after an internal competitive process and continues his research in both disease diagnosis and mechanisms of infectious disease.
Converting ideas to reality: the challenge of making micro impacts.
Infectious disease represents a constant threat to humanity. In my inaugural lecture, I will attempt to show how Scientists have made and continue to make contributions to scientific knowledge for the betterment of society, in part using my own research group outputs as an example. Indeed, the study of infectious disease and molecular microbiology which involves understanding how microorganisms have evolved, survive and cause disease has yielded many advances including antibiotics, vaccines and more recently immunotherapies. It is essential to continue to generate new knowledge in molecular microbiology, and to attempt to positively exploit it, for the benefit of society. In this lecture I will attempt to illustrate this by way of a questioning narrative which shows that asking ‘why?’, working with smart people and accessing and developing state-of-the-art technology can yield both new knowledge and tangible biotechnologies. Sometimes rational, sometimes serendipitous – in the long-term, discovery always has potential to improve lives, and to change minds.
Please visit EventBrite to register:
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/professorial-inaugural-lecture-series-fse-prof-sean-doyle-tickets-1277769997459?aff=oddtdtcreator