Congratulations, you won the 2024Irish Universities Association National Three-Minute Thesis competition, what was involved in that?
It’s a competition where you stand up and explain your PhD research in three minutes to a general audience, using only one slide. I entered the University College Cork competition, which I thought was going to be very low-key, but it turned out to be quite a big event and I was shocked when I won.
Then at the national final in Dublin, the standard of the other speakers from universities around the country was really high, so again I couldn’t believe it when the judges awarded me in first place.
What is your PhD research about?
We are interested in ovarian cancer, and one of the big problems with this cancer is that it’s hard to catch it at an early stage. By the time it is diagnosed it can often be hard to treat. My project is looking for early signals or “biomarkers” that can flag ovarian cancer, particularly types of RNA that could tell us what is going on.
I’ve also looked at various types of cells that scientists grow in the lab to experiment on for ovarian cancer, to help identify which cells are most like tumours, so they will likely give the most applicable results.
What was your journey to doing this research?
When I was at school in Meath, I wasn’t sure what I wanted study after my Leaving Cert. So I went to University College Dublin to study science as it would provide a lot of options, and for my undergrad I studied plant science.
Then I did a master’s degree in UCC in bioinformatics and computational biology, and as part of that I did a research project with Dr Kellie Dean. I enjoyed it so much that I went on to do the PhD in her lab through the Research Ireland Centre for Research Training in Genomics Data Science.
[Making the right connections for technology and researchOpens in new window ]
What’s your favourite part of your research?
Working with patients. Thanks to the Irish Cancer Society we have had workshops with people who have experience of ovarian cancer, either directly or caring for someone with the disease. Patient and public involvement, or PPI, is a really important part of cancer research.
We hope that ultimately our research will point to new ways to diagnose ovarian cancer, so we need to know what people in that situation want and need. By talking with patients, we find out things that we would never know from reading the scientific literature.
And what are you grateful for in your research?
I think it’s how supportive and connected the research community is. My undergraduate supervisor Dr Joanna Kacprzyk from UCD was in touch to congratulate me right after the IUA competition. I’m also thankful for what people have done to make today’s research possible – for example, as researchers we can engage with people who have ovarian cancer better now thanks to the work of the Irish Society of Gynaecological Oncology.
What would you like people to know about ovarian cancer?
It would be the “Beat” symptoms. So B is for persistent bloating, E is for eating less and feeling fuller, A is for abdominal pain and T is for toilet changes in urination or bowel habits. These things happen normally from time to time, but if any one of them persists over two or three weeks then get it checked out.
Finally, what do you like to do in your spare time?
I love sea swimming – and I’m lucky, there are plenty of lovely spots near me in Cork for doing that.