Luke O'Neill (scientist)

Luke Anthony John O'Neill FRS MRIA[2] (born 17 June 1964) is an Irish biochemist. He has been a professor of biochemistry in the School of Biochemistry[3] and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin since 2009.[4][5][6][7]

Luke O'Neill

FRS MRIA
O'Neill in 2016
Born (1964-06-17) 17 June 1964
Dublin, Ireland
Education
Alma mater
Spouse
Margaret Worrall
​
(m. 1993)​
Children2
AwardsEMBO Member (2005)
Scientific career
FieldsImmunology[1]
Institutions
ThesisCharacterisation of interleukin-1-induced prostaglandin E₂ release in human synovial cells (1988)
Websitepeople.tcd.ie/laoneill

Early life and education

O'Neill was born on 17 June 1964 in Dublin, Ireland, to Kevin O'Neill and Carmel O'Neill (née Sherry).[8] He was educated at St Peter's School and Presentation College in Bray, County Wicklow, and went to Trinity College Dublin,[8] where he was awarded an undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences (Biochemistry) in 1985.[9] He completed his postgraduate study at the University of London,[8] where he was awarded a PhD in pharmacology, for research investigating the characterisation of prostaglandin E2 release induced by interleukin-1 in human synovial cells, in 1988.[10] Following his PhD, he worked at the postdoctoral researcher at the Strangeways Research Laboratory in Cambridge funded by the Medical Research Council.[9]

Research

O'Neill's research investigates inflammation, a highly complex process that is provoked in the body during infection by bacteria and viruses but also in response to major trauma and injury. Inflammation restores us to health but for largely unknown reasons it can go rogue and give rise to a whole range of inflammatory diseases which remain difficult to treat.[2][11]

He has worked on the innate immune system, which lies at the heart of inflammation. He has uncovered new molecules and biochemical processes that are triggered by sensors of infection and tissue injury, including the toll-like receptors[12][13][14][15] and inflammasomes, and the signals they drive that stimulate inflammation, notably cytokines in the interleukin-1 family. He has made pioneering discoveries in the area of metabolic reprogramming in immunity and immunometabolism. He is using his findings to help in the effort to develop novel anti-inflammatory medicines.[2] He has co-founded Inflazome with Matt Cooper which developed NLRP3 inhibitors and was acquired by Roche Ltd in 2020, and Sitryx with Houman Ashrafian, Johnathan Powell, Jeff Rathmell and Mike Rosenblum.

In 2023 he was appointed Chief Scientific Officer of Senda Biosciences, a company pioneering programmable medicines (https://www.sendabiosciences.com).

His research has been funded by the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the European Research Council (ERC), the Wellcome Trust and GlaxoSmithKline.[4]

Awards and honours

O'Neill was awarded the Royal Dublin Society & The Irish Times Robert Boyle Medal for scientific excellence in 2009,[16] the Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal for Life Sciences in 2012 and the European Federation of Immunology Societies (EFIS) Medal in 2014. He was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy (MRIA) in 2004[17] and the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) in 2005.[18] O'Neill was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2016.[2]

In 2019 he won the Landsteiner Award from the Austrian Academy of Sciences. In 2021 he won the UCD Biological Society George Sigerson Award for Inspiring Aspiring Scientists.

In 2022, he was made an honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Bath and was presented with an honorary lifetime membership award by the International Cytokine and Interferon Society (https://cytokinesociety.org/luke-oneill-2022/?amp=1).

In 2023 he was appointed to the governing body of the European Research Council, the European Union's premier funder of fundamental research (https://ireland.representation.ec.europa.eu/news-and-events/news/professor-luke-oneill-appointed-governing-body-european-research-council-2022-12-07_en) and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by UMass Chan Medical School. https://www.telegram.com/story/news/2023/06/04/class-of-2023-of-umass-chan-medical-school/70286515007/

Public engagement

O'Neill has a passion to engage with the general public on scientific topics. He has a weekly science slot with Pat Kenny on the Irish national radio station Newstalk. In 2018, he published Humanology: A Scientist's Guide to our Amazing Existence with Gill publishers.[19] In 2019, he published a science book for children, The Great Irish Science Book with Gill.[20] From 2020 onwards, he wrote for the Sunday Independent concerning the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland.[21] He contracted COVID-19 himself in December 2021, and experienced symptoms.[22]

In 2020 he won the An Post Irish Book of the Year Award for best popular non-fiction book for Never Mind the B*ll*cks, Here's the Science, published by Gill, which was a best seller.[23] He also won the Science Foundation Ireland Science Communicator of the Year Award, for his media work on COVID19.

In 2021 he published Keep Calm and Trust the Science: A Remarkable Year in the Life of an Immunologist, which is his diary covering the COVID-19 pandemic.

Personal life

O'Neil married Margaret Worrall in 1993. They have two sons.

References
  1. Brint, Elizabeth K; Xu, Damo; Liu, Haiying; Dunne, Aisling; McKenzie, Andrew N J; O'Neill, Luke A J; Liew, Foo Y (2004). "ST2 is an inhibitor of interleukin 1 receptor and Toll-like receptor 4 signaling and maintains endotoxin tolerance". Nature Immunology. 5 (4): 373–9. doi:10.1038/ni1050. PMID 15004556. S2CID 29364769.
  2. Anon (2016). "Professor Luke O'Neill FRS". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 29 April 2016. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:
    "All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License." --"Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies". Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. Luke O'Neill publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  4. "Professor Luke O'Neill: Chair of Biochemistry (1960)". Dublin: tcd.ie. Archived from the original on 15 September 2015.
  5. Interview with Professor Luke O'Neill of Trinity College Dublin on YouTube
  6. In Conversation: Professor Luke O'Neill on YouTube
  7. "Luke Anthony John O'Neill". knowledgetransferireland.com. Archived from the original on 23 May 2016.
  8. "O'Neill, Prof. Luke Anthony John". Who's Who. A & C Black. 2022. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U287303. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  9. O'Neill, LA (2009). "Luke A. J. O'Neill" (PDF). Journal of Biological Chemistry. 284 (13): 8209. doi:10.1074/jbc.R800070200. PMC 2659175. PMID 19008216. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 May 2016.
  10. O'Neill, Luke Anthony John (1988). Characterisation of interleukin-1-induced prostaglandin E₂ release in human synovial cells (PhD thesis). University of London. OCLC 940166978.
  11. O'Neill, L.A.J; Kaltschmidt, C. (1997). "NF-kB: a crucial transcription factor for glial and neuronal cell function". Trends in Neurosciences. 20 (6): 252–258. doi:10.1016/S0166-2236(96)01035-1. PMID 9185306. S2CID 53144143.
  12. Fitzgerald, Katherine A.; Palsson-McDermott, Eva M.; Bowie, Andrew G.; Jefferies, Caroline A.; Mansell, Ashley S.; Brady, Gareth; Brint, Elizabeth; Dunne, Aisling; Gray, Pearl; Harte, Mary T.; McMurray, Diane; Smith, Dirk E.; Sims, John E.; Bird, Timothy A.; O'Neill, Luke A. J. (2001). "Mal (MyD88-adapter-like) is required for Toll-like receptor-4 signal transduction". Nature. 413 (6851): 78–83. Bibcode:2001Natur.413...78F. doi:10.1038/35092578. PMID 11544529. S2CID 4333764.
  13. Palsson-McDermott, Eva M.; O'Neill, Luke A. J. (2004). "Signal transduction by the lipopolysaccharide receptor, Toll-like receptor-4". Immunology. 113 (2): 153–162. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2567.2004.01976.x. PMC 1782563. PMID 15379975. open access
  14. O'Neill, Luke A. J.; Bowie, Andrew G. (2007). "The family of five: TIR-domain-containing adaptors in Toll-like receptor signalling". Nature Reviews Immunology. 7 (5): 353–364. doi:10.1038/nri2079. PMID 17457343. S2CID 5872298.
  15. Liew, Foo Y.; Xu, Damo; Brint, Elizabeth K.; O'Neill, Luke A. J. (2005). "Negative regulation of Toll-like receptor-mediated immune responses". Nature Reviews Immunology. 5 (6): 446–458. doi:10.1038/nri1630. PMID 15928677. S2CID 10220241.
  16. Boyle Medal Laureates Royal Dublin Society
  17. Downes, John (17 March 2004). "20 new members elected to Royal Irish Academy". The Irish Times. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  18. Anon (2005). "EMBO Member Luke O'Neill: Trinity College, Dublin, EMBO 2005". Heidelberg: embo.org.
  19. O'Neill, Luke (2018). Humanology: A Scientist's Guide to our Amazing Existence. Gill Books. ISBN 978-0-7171-8015-8.
  20. O'Neill, Luke (2019). The Great Irish Science Book. Gill Books. ISBN 978-0-7171-8558-0.
  21. Examples include:
  22. O'Neill, Luke (19 December 2021). "Covid might have got me in the end, but science saved me". Sunday Independent. Retrieved 19 December 2021. My Covid story began almost two weeks ago when I was identified as a close contact by someone at work. I was in a meeting with them that went on for about 45 minutes in a well-ventilated room with me over two metres away, so it just shows you. The HSE sent me three antigen tests. I took the first one and it was negative. I went about my business. But the second one I took two days later, as per the instructions, was positive... As the day went on, the symptoms began. My nose began running like a tap. Also sneezing. Then a dry cough began that was quite uncomfortable. And a thumping headache. No fever and no loss of smell or taste. I stayed in bed. These symptoms continued for about two days, and also fatigue. I felt wiped out for a day or so. But after three days I began to feel better... I've been symptom-free now for four days and through my 10-day isolation.
  23. O'Neill, Luke (2021). Never Mind the B#ll*cks, Here's the Science. Swift Press. ISBN 9781800750760.
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