Gary Brennan

Dr. Gary Brennan is an assistant professor in the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science at The Conway Institute, University College Dublin. His current research focuses on RNA methylation in epilepsy and epilepsy-associated cognitive impairment.

Gary holds a PhD in Neuroscience from RCSI, studying the role of anti-apoptotic proteins in seizure-induced neuronal death. He joined the lab of Professor Tallie Z. Baram in the Dept of Paediatrics at the University of California-Irvine as a George E Hewitt postdoctoral fellow. His work during this time focused on understanding how the epigenetic repressor, NRSF/REST, contributes to the development of epilepsy following epilepsy-inciting brain insults by repressing critical neuronal genes. Further interests during this time interrogated the regulatory mechanisms governing NRSF expression during epilepsy development and the complex interactions between microRNAs and epigenetic regulation of gene expression.

In 2015 Gary returned to the RCSI and received a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship to continue studying the role of microRNA in neuronal function and in epilepsy. In 2017 Gary was awarded a Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE) Taking Flight Award to establish his own group and to begin studying the role of RNA modifications in epilepsy.