Lorna Lopez

Lorna Lopez is an Associate Professor at Maynooth University. Her research focuses on discovering the genomic basis of neurodevelopmental conditions with a specific interest in understanding the genetic basis of circadian rhythms and sleep in neuropsychiatric conditions, thus strengthening the mental health focus within FutureNeuro.

Her research expertise ranges from genomic, proteomic and chronobiology approaches, in family and population-based studies (including UK Biobank and ABCD research).  She is a recent awardee of an ERC grant and received the SFI Early Career Researcher of the Year Award 2020. This makes her ideally suited to mentoring early-career female researchers to secure independent funding.

Professor Lopez embeds PPI in her research studies and undertakes engaged research through conference organisation (“What’s Next in Autism Genomics? The Progress, the Potential and the Opportunities for Public Involvement”) and wider community engagement through creative and expert educational output.