Sharon Glynn

Senior Lecturer in Pathology

Lambe Institute for Translational Research

NUI Galway

Research Interests:

The central theme of my laboratory is to explore how inflammation derived from nitrosative stress and human endogenous retrovirus activation influences tumour biology, modifies the tumour microenvironment and influences treatment responses and patient outcomes. A major source of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrosative stress in tumours comes from inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and correlates with increased risk of poor outcomes and distant metastasis. Our research is exploring the pro- and anti-tumour effects of NO in cancer biology including cellular response to stressors such as DNA damage, oncogene activation, altered cell metabolism and deregulating DNA repair enzymes and tumour suppressor genes, in addition to modulation of apoptotic and metastatic processes.

Our research also explores the role of HERV-K in tumour biology.  HERV-K has been found to be activated in many tumour types including breast and prostate cancer, and is associated with increased risk of poor outcomes.  Using in vitro models of breast and prostate cancer, we are examining the role of HERV-K derived proteins (Gag, Env, Rec and Np9) on tumour cell phenotype and signal transduction pathways. Coupled with our patient cohort studies this allows us to then validate our findings for clinical importance.

Finally we also seek to understand the impact of these tumour epithelium expressed inflammatory mediators on the larger tumour microenvironment using 3D spheroid co-culture models and via multiplex protein and RNA imaging of tumours with our US based collaborators at the National Cancer Institute.  Sharon has been awarded a number of grants including a SFI Career Development Award, Breast Cancer Now Project and PhD Grants, and Irish Cancer Society Funding and is a CÚRAM SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices funded investigator.

The three main research objectives of the Glynn lab are:

1. To understand the role of nitrosative stress in breast and prostate cancer development and progression.
2. To understand how mRNA and viral proteins derived from Human Endogenous Retrovirus-K (HERV-K) influences tumour biology and patient outcomes
3. To determine the impact of tumour derived  inflammatory mediators including iNOS and HERV-K on stromal cell activation using 3D models stromal-tumour interactions (breast and prostate cancers)

Biography: 

2020-:                   Senior Lecturer in Pathology, School of Medicine, NUI Galway.   

2015-2020:         Lecturer Above the Bar in Pathology, School of Medicine, NUI Galway.   

2010-2014:         PI & Director of Laboratory Research, Prostate Cancer Institute, NUI Galway.

2009-2010:         Visiting Fellow, Radiation Biology Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH, USA.

2006-2009:         All-Ireland NCI Cancer Prevention Fellow, National Cancer Institute, NIH, USA.

2006:                     Master of Public Health.University College Dublin.

2003-2005:         Postdoctoral Researcher, Dublin City University.                                               

2003:                     Ph.D. in Biotechnology, Dublin City University.

1997:                     B.Sc. in Biotechnology,Dublin City University.