Gallagher , William M

Biographical sketch

Prof. Gallagher originally graduated from the Department of Biochemistry, UCD in 1993 with a 1st Class Joint Honours degree in Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry. Subsequently, he obtained a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the Cancer Research UK Beatson Laboratories in Glasgow. In 1997, he moved to Paris to undertake a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (currently Sanofi-Aventis). Afterwards, he returned to Ireland upon receipt of an Enterprise Ireland Post-Doctoral Fellowship (1999-2000) and, subsequently, a Marie Curie Return Fellowship (2000–2001). In 2001, he was employed in a permanent capacity as College Lecturer at UCD within the former Department of Pharmacology. In 2005, he was appointed Senior Lecturer within the UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science and was promoted to Associate Professor of Cancer Biology in 2006. Prof. Gallagher is also a Principal Investigator at the UCD Conway Institute. In 2007, he co-founded OncoMark Ltd., which is a private company centred on the development and application of biomarker panels and associated technologies, on both tissues and biological fluids (www.oncomark.com). A major focus of Prof. Gallagher’s research work is the identification and validation of candidate biomarkers of breast cancer and melanoma, with particular emphasis on translation of transcriptomic and proteomic datasets into clinically relevant assays. In addition, his team utilises lentiviral-based approaches to investigate the functional relevance of candidate tumour progression-associated genes at both in vitro and in vivo levels, as well as engages in preclinical evaluation of novel anti-cancer agents. Prof. Gallagher has an additional interest in understanding the molecular basis of cell-biomaterial interaction, as well as the use of these materials for targeted/localised delivery of therapeutics.

Prof. Gallagher currently co-ordinates an FP6 Marie Curie Transfer of Knowledge Industry-Academia Partnership Programme, Target-Breast (www.targetbreast.com), which involves 3 academic and 2 industrial partners across 3 EU countries (running from 2006-2010). He is embarking on a similar programme under FP7, namely a Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnership and Pathways Programme, Target-Melanoma, involving 9 partners around Europe. Prof. Gallagher has received a number of awards based on his research work to date, including the BACR/AstraZeneca Young Scientist Frank Rose Award in 2004 and the St. Luke’s Silver Medal Award in 2008. He is also on the Scientific Advisory Board of SlidePath Ltd., a rapidly emerging life sciences informatics company (www.slidepath.com). Prof. Gallagher has had productive collaborative interactions with a variety of other industrial partners throughout his research, as well as filed 7 patents.