Prof Kieran McDermott
Kieran McDermott is the Professor of Anatomy and Head of Teaching and Research in Anatomy at the Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick. He received a BSc (Hons) in Zoology from University College Cork, an MSc in Experimental Pathology and Toxicology from the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith Hospital, London and undertook a PhD in Developmental Neurobiology in the Department of Neuropathology in the Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, London. Postdoctoral work in developmental neurobiology, funded by a Wellcome Trust Travelling Fellowship, was subsequently undertaken at the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, USA and later in experimental neuropathology at the Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Cambridge, UK. He was subsequently appointed Lecturer in the Department of Anatomy at University College, Cork (UCC) and played a key role in setting up the BSc (Hons) in Neuroscience at UCC, the first such degree in Ireland. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer and contributed extensively medical, dental, neuroscience and postgraduate programmes. He served as Head of the Department of Anatomy in UCC on a number of occasions, most recently from February 2010 until July 2011 and in this period played a key leadership role in the design and development of new state-of-the-art anatomy teaching facilities and in the relocation of the Department of Anatomy from its historic home in the Windle Building to the new Western Gateway Building. He has been an External PhD Examiner for the Universities of London, Portsmouth and Cambridge and a Programme External Examiner for the University of Liverpool. He is a reviewer for numerous anatomy, neuroscience and developmental neurobiology journals. He became the first elected President of Neuroscience Ireland, Ireland’s new national neuroscience association in 2006, serving a three year term. He was elected to the Council of the Anatomical Society in 2012, awarded the prestigious Fellowship of the Anatomical Society in 2013 and invited to become the Deputy Treasurer of the Society in 2015.
His research interests include the developmental origins and lineage determinants of neural cell types, the vulnerability of nervous system development to intrinsic and extrinsic perturbation and the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. He has received research funding from the European Union (EU), Science Foundation Ireland, Health Research Board of Ireland, Wellcome Trust, Programme for Research in Third level Institutions, Irish Research Council, Anatomical Society and the Multiple Sclerosis Society. He was been a Principal Investigator in the UCC’c Biosciences Institute since its foundation in 2002 and Director of the BioSciences Imaging Centre from 2007-2014. He has served on the Neuroscience and Postdoctoral Fellowship committees of the Health Research Board of Ireland and has undertaken international grant evaluations for the EU, INTAS and AOSpine among others.
2015
Dmitriev, R. I., Borisov, S. M., Kondrashina, A. V., Pakan, J. M., Anilkumar, U., Prehn, J. H., Zhdanov, A. V., McDermott, K. W., Klimant, I. and Papkovsky, D. B. (2015) 'Imaging oxygen in neural cell and tissue models by means of anionic cell-permeable phosphorescent nanoparticles', Cell Mol Life Sci, 72(2), 367-81.
Fitzpatrick, J. K., Anderson, R. C. and McDermott, K. W. (2015) 'MicroRNA: Key regulators of oligodendrocyte development and pathobiology', Int J Biochem Cell Biol, 65, 134-138.
Jenkins, J., Dmitriev, R. I., Morten, K., McDermott, K. W. and Papkovsky, D. B. (2015) 'Oxygen-sensing scaffolds for 3-dimensional cell and tissue culture', Acta Biomater, 16, 126-35.
2014
Barry, D. S., Pakan, J. M. and McDermott, K. W. (2014) 'Radial glial cells: key organisers in CNS development', Int J Biochem Cell Biol, 46, 76-9.
O'Loughlin, E. K., Pakan, J. M., McDermott, K. W. and Yilmazer-Hanke, D. (2014) 'Expression of neuropeptide Y1 receptors in the amygdala and hippocampus and anxiety-like behavior associated with Ammon's horn sclerosis following intrahippocampal kainate injection in C57BL/6J mice', Epilepsy Behav, 37, 175-83.
Pakan, J. M. and McDermott, K. W. (2014) 'A method to investigate radial glia cell behavior using two-photon time-lapse microscopy in an ex vivo model of spinal cord development', Front Neuroanat, 8, 22.
2013
Barry, D. S., Pakan, J. M., O'Keeffe, G. W. and McDermott, K. W. (2013) 'The spatial and temporal arrangement of the radial glial scaffold suggests a role in axon tract formation in the developing spinal cord', J Anat, 222(2), 203-13.
Mathew, A., Pakan, J. M., Collin, E. C., Wang, W., McDermott, K. W., Fitzgerald, U., Reynolds, R. and Pandit, A. S. (2013) 'An ex-vivo multiple sclerosis model of inflammatory demyelination using hyperbranched polymer', Biomaterials, 34(23), 5872-82.
2011
CJ, O. L. and McDermott, K. W. (2011) 'Spinal cord neuroepithelial progenitor cells display developmental plasticity when co-cultured with embryonic spinal cord slices at different stages of development', Dev Dyn, 240(4), 785-95.
Farrell, B. C., Power, E. M. and McDermott, K. W. (2011) 'Developmentally regulated expression of Sox9 and microRNAs 124, 128 and 23 in neuroepithelial stem cells in the developing spinal cord', Int J Dev Neurosci, 29(1), 31-6.
2010
Bhatt, L., Groeger, G., McDermott, K. and Cotter, T. G. (2010) 'Rod and cone photoreceptor cells produce ROS in response to stress in a live retinal explant system', Mol Vis, 16, 283-93.
Choudhury, K. R., Deacon, P., Barrett, R. and McDermott, K. (2010) 'Hypothesis testing for neural cell growth experiments using a hybrid branching process model', Biostatistics, 11(4), 631-43.
Henley, B. M. and McDermott, K. W. (2010) 'The expression of neuroepithelial cell fate determinants in rat spinal cord development', J Mol Neurosci, 42(1), 28-34.
Wood, T. K., Sullivan, A. M. and McDermott, K. W. (2010) 'Protective and deleterious roles of astroglia in the aetiology of Parkinson's Disease ', Brain Research Reviews.
2009
Gibney, S. M. and McDermott, K. W. (2009) 'Sonic hedgehog promotes the generation of myelin proteins by transplanted oligosphere-derived cells', J Neurosci Res, 87(14), 3067-75.
2008
Desbonnet, L., Garrett, L., Daly, E., McDermott, K. W. and Dinan, T. G. (2008) 'Sexually dimorphic effects of maternal separation stress on corticotrophin-releasing factor and vasopressin systems in the adult rat brain', Int J Dev Neurosci, 26(3-4), 259-68.
Murphy, N., Naughton, T. J., Woods, D., Henley, B., McDermott, K., Duffy, E., Van Der Burgt, P. J. M. and Woods, N. (2008) 'Implementations of a model of physical sorting 2008', International Journal of Unconventional Computing, 4(8), 2-12.
2007
Gibney, S. M. and McDermott, K. W. (2007) 'Differentiation of oligodendrocytes in neurospheres derived from embryonic rat brain using growth and differentiation factors', J Neurosci Res, 85(9), 1912-20.
McMahon, S. S. and McDermott, K. W. (2007) 'Developmental potential of radial glia investigated by transplantation into the developing rat ventricular system in utero', Exp Neurol, 203(1), 128-36.
2006
McMahon, S. S. and McDermott, K. W. (2006) 'A comparison of cell transplantation and retroviral gene transfection as tools to study lineage and differentiation in the rat spinal cord', J Neurosci Methods, 152(1-2), 243-9.
2005
Barry, D. and McDermott, K. (2005) 'Differentiation of radial glia from radial precursor cells and transformation into astrocytes in the developing rat spinal cord', Glia, 50(3), 187-97.
Butt, A., Sullivan, A., McDermott, K. W. and Fraher, J. (2005) 'Symposium on ‘Neural stem and progenitor cells: biology and clinical potential’, part two', J Anat, 207(6), 685-685.
McDermott, K. W., Barry, D. S. and McMahon, S. S. (2005) 'Role of radial glia in cytogenesis, patterning and boundary formation in the developing spinal cord', J Anat, 207(3), 241-50.
Wood, T. K., McDermott, K. W. and Sullivan, A. M. (2005) 'Differential effects of growth/differentiation factor 5 and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor on dopaminergic neurons and astroglia in cultures of embryonic rat midbrain', J Neurosci Res, 80(6), 759-66.
2004
Lane, S., McDermott, K., Dockery, P. and Fraher, J. (2004) 'The developing cervical spinal ventral commissure of the rat: a highly controlled axon-glial system', J Neurocytol, 33(5), 489-501.
2003
Barry, D. and McDermott, K. W. (2003) 'Distribution of intermediate filaments in the developing spinal cord', G.I.T Imaging and Microscopy, 4, 2-4.
McMahon, S. S., Dockery, P. and McDermott, K. W. (2003) 'Estimation of nuclear volume as an indicator of maturation of glial precursor cells in the developing rat spinal cord: a stereological approach', J Anat, 203(3), 339-44.
Wood, T., Healy, C., Schweizer, J., McDermott, K. and Alderman, J. (2003) 'Suitability Of Various Biosensor Materials for Neural Cell Adherence and Growth ', European Cells and Materials.
Wood, T. K., Sullivan, A. M. and McDermott, K. W. (2003) 'Viability of dopaminergic neurones is influenced by serum and astroglial cells in vitro', J Neurocytol, 32(1), 97-103.
2002
Cullinane, A. B., O'Callaghan, P., McDermott, K., Keohane, C. and Cleary, P. E. (2002) 'Effects of autologous platelet concentrate and serum on retinal wound healing in an animal model', Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol, 240(1), 35-41.
McMahon, S. S. and McDermott, K. W. (2002) 'Morphology and differentiation of radial glia in the developing rat spinal cord', J Comp Neurol, 454(3), 263-71.
2001
McMahon, S. S. and McDermott, K. W. (2001) 'Proliferation and migration of glial precursor cells in the developing rat spinal cord', J Neurocytol, 30(9-10), 821-8.
O'Brien, D., Dockery, P., McDermott, K. and Fraher, J. P. (2001) 'Early development of the CNS-PNS transitional zone an immunohistochemical and morphological study ', Journal of Neurocytology, (30), 11-20.
In 2003, he, jointly, won the Olympus-GIT Verlag International Microscopy Award and, in 2006, he received a UCC President’s Award for Research on Innovative Forms of Teaching and Learning (2006). Images from his research won the Anatomical Society Best Image Award July 2012 and received an honourable Mention in the Olympus Bioscapes Competition in 2012.