David Henshall

David is the Director of the FutureNeuro SFI Research Centre and Professor of Molecular Physiology and Neuroscience at RCSI University of Medicine & Health Sciences. His main interests are in the molecular mechanisms and treatment of epilepsy. Particular interests are epigenetics and the role of small noncoding RNAs including microRNA. David’s laboratory is highly collaborative, working with Ireland-based clinical colleagues and international investigators, and partnering with the biopharmaceutical and gene therapy industry sector. His team uses multidisciplinary techniques including sequencing, imaging, electrophysiology and bioinformatics and applies preclinical and human models and samples to explore the gene expression landscape in the brain during epilepsy development to identify novel therapeutic targets and disease biomarkers.

David is particularly interested in projects that explore how to integrate recently generated gene expression data including chromatin mapping (ATAC) and small RNA sequencing with neurophysiological recordings, to understand how changes to molecular pathways link to the neuronal network instability that generates seizures and how this relates to circulating molecular and cellular biomarkers of the disease.