Biography

Dr. Greg Byrne completed his PhD in 2006 in Trinity College Dublin & St. James’s Hospital under the supervision of Professor Con Feighery and Dr Jacinta Kelly. The research was concerned with characterising the anti-tissue transglutaminase autoantibody response in coeliac disease. His work on autoimmunity in coeliac disease was continued during a post doc in the same laboratory. He subsequently moved to The National Children’s Research Centre in Crumlin Hospital, Dublin to extend studies to children with coeliac disease. He was employed as a lecturer in DIT in 2010 and has continued his affiliation with the immunology group in St. James’s hospital as well as fostering research collaborations with the O’Shea/Hogan Obesity Immunology research group in St. Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin and Maynooth University.  

Qualifications

BSc (Hons) Industrial Microbiology, PhD Immunology, PGDip Third level teaching and learning.

Research Themes

Coeliac disease & Obesity immunology

Keywords

Autoantibodies, transglutaminases, obesity.

Key Publications

Byrne G., Feighery F. Coeliac disease: Diagnosis (Book chapter in Coeliac disease Methods and Protocols) Methods in molecular biology October 2015 1326:15-22

Comerford, R., Kelly, J., Feighery, C., Byrne G. Differential epitope targeting and subclass usage in IgG tTG responses in coeliac disease and other autoimmune conditions. Molecular Immunology 2015 Oct;67(2 Pt B):369-76

O’Shea D, Carolan E, Mangan B, Corrigan M, Gaoatswe G, Byrne G, Mohan H, Winter D, Geoghegan J, Cody D, O’Connell J, Doherty D, Lynch L, Hogan A. Mucosal Associated Invariant T cells display an alternatively activated phenotype in both peripheral blood and adipose tissue in obesity. J Immunol. 2015 Jun 15; 194(12):5775-80

Byrne G, Freeley M, Feighery C, Whelan A, Long A. Protein kinase C delta is a substrate of tissue transglutaminase and a novel autoantigen in coeliac disease. Clin Immunol. 2013 Apr; 147(1):1-8.  

Professional Memberships

• Member of the Immunology Advisory Body of the Academy of Clinical Science and Laboratory Medicine

• Member of the Irish Society for Immunology

• Member of the DIT First Year Experience Framework working group (2015/2016)

• Member of LEAF (Learning from, and engaging with, Assessment and Feedback), a team tasked with developing an assessment & feedback strategy for the DIT (2017/2019)

• Member of the local organising committee for SURE18, a national conference showcasing research talent from Institutes of Technology

External Activities/Outreach

• External examiner for the UCD International Foundation Programme

• Grant reviewer for the Fondazione Celiachia (Italian coeliac foundation) and Coeliac UK

Research and Academic Interests

Dr Byrne has published papers on topics of immunology including autoimmunity, immunodeficiency and obesity immunology. The main focus of his work has been investigating the immune response directed against tissue transglutaminase in coeliac disease. In 2010 he was awarded funding to carry out research into paediatric coeliac disease in the National Children’s Research Centre. More recently, Dr Byrne has developed a collaboration with the Hogan/O’Shea Obesity Immunology group which is based in St Vincent’s Hospital and Maynooth University. This work has focussed on the detrimental effects of obesity on the human immune system.

Dr Byrne teaches on >15 different modules ranging from first year undergraduate to masters level. As a lecturer in Clinical Immunology, he teaches fundamental immunology in early stages and clinical immunology to final year students. This includes topics such as allergy, autoimmunity and immunodeficiency. While his focus is immunology, he also teaches on modules including Fundamental Biology, Introduction to Microbiology and The Human Body & Disease.

Dr Byrne is the chair of the School Teaching, Learning & Assessment committee which has the responsibility to review, discuss and promote new teaching and assessment methods in the School. Dr Byrne is the first year coordinator for the BSc in Biomedical Sciences and has a particular interest in supporting first year students and facilitating their transition to third level education. He was involved in a DIT First Year Experience Framework working group (2015/2016) which prepared a framework for first year success which is available on the DIT Learning, Teaching & Technology centre website. Dr Byrne is also part of a team (LEAF) who have recently (June 2017) been funded to develop an assessment & feedback strategy for the DIT over the next two years. Dr Byrne also plays a role in the final year of the BSc in Biomedical Science acting as project coordinator with responsibility for assigning students to research projects and monitoring their progress.