Lecturer

Email: david.i.oconnor@TUDublin.ie

Tel: (01) 220 5668

Education

Post-Graduate Diploma in Higher Education, NUIM                                                               2008

Thesis:Application of small-group teaching methods in large biology classes.

 PhD National University of Ireland (NUI) at Maynooth, Ireland.                                                   1997

“Studies on mitochondrial respiration in Kluyveromyces lactis and other petite-negative yeast”.

MSc (qualifier) NUI Maynooth                                                                                                  1984

An NFQ 8 qualification equivalent to a BSc (Hons) in biology. Result: II.I

Thesis: The effects of Diuron on Kluyveromyces lactis.

BSc in Applied Freshwater and Marine Biology Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology                     1983

Thesis: Copper toxicity in Daphnia magna straus.  Placement; Salmon Biology, Irish Dept. of Fisheries.

BSc  NUI Maynooth                                                                                                                    1983

Professional Experience

Assistant Lecturer in Environmental, Health and Food Biochemistry      09/14– current

Dublin Institute of Technology                                                                    

Assistant Lecturer in Pharmacology and Nutritional Biochemistry          01/13 – 08/14

IT Sligo

Assistant Lecturer (Pro-Rata) Biochemistry                                               09/10 – 12/12

Dublin Institute of Technology

Research Officer in Meat Science Technology                                             03/09 – 0911

Teagasc

Postdoc Research Fellow /Lecturer in Molec Biol & Biochemistry             09/07- 08/08

NUIM

Senior Lecturer (Contract) in Molec Biol & Biochemistry                           09/06-04/07

NUIM

Postdoc Research Fellow/ Lecturer (occasional)                                        06/05 – 07/06

NUIM

Director of Research                                                                                      05/04–05/05

AsterTherix Ltd (University of Liverpool)

Postdoctoral Research Associate                                                                  05/00 -04/04

Dept of Oncology & Surgery, University of Liverpool, UK                                                                                

Postdoctoral Research Fellow                                                                      04/1998-05/2000

Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

Postdoctoral Research Fellow                                                                      09/1997– 03/1998

Centre for Science and Technology in Medicine, Keele University, UK.

Research Experience

Funding; I have been the lead-DIT academic on a successful application to formulate an Enterprise Ireland/Irish Meat Industry funded Meat Technology Centre in a Teagasc DIT UCC consortium. The award was 7 million euro. In addition I have been awarded personal grants of over €480,000 between  FIRM (x2), EU:ProSafeBeef, Manchester Innovations, BBSRC, EU: BAP and  EU:BRIDGE programs.

Research: Supervised research students up to level 10 and have collaborations nationally and internationally. Presented my work at a number of international conferences.  

Scholarly Activity

• Chairman and was recently elected Fellow of The Institute of Biology of Ireland and member of the Institute of Food Science & Technology of Ireland.
• Appointed Program-Coordinator of Human Nutrition while at IT Sligo
• Completed university teaching courses in Ireland, Australia and the UK and have pioneered several new & innovative teaching methods in my lecturing.
• I have acted as a consultant on commercial projects in Ireland, Italy and the UK.
• I have been involved in setting up a university Start-up company from the development of a commercial system to patent applications, licensing negotiations.
• In a number of my research positions I have supervised undergraduate (BSc) and post-graduate (MSc, MD and PhD) students. I have been an examiner for MD and PhD vivas

Publications

Patents

• Hsp90 Inhibitor Drug Screening System. PCT WO 2004/097428 A1)
• Topoisomerase II antagonists combination treatment PCT GB 2003 001369
• Topoisomerase I antagonists combination treatment PCT GB 2003 0301613

Academic

• McGrath, S., McCarthy, S., O’Connor, D.I. and McCarthy,M. (2015). Healthy aging: diet and lifestyle might hold the key to eternal youth. TResearch,32-33 Spring 2015 Teagasc, Ireland
• van Rooyen, L-A., Allen, P. and O’Connor, D.I. (2015). Modified Atmospheric and Vacuum Packaging of Meat featuring Carbon monoxide Pre-Treatments- a Review. submitted to Trends in Food Science & Technology.
• O’Connor, D.I. and Allen, P. (2011). The use of Carbon Monoxide as a pre-packaging treatment in beef. Paper 327. International Congress of Meat Science and Technology, August 2011, Ghent, Belgium
• Hamill, R.M., Aslan, O., Sweeney, T., O’Doherty, J.V.,  McBryan, J., O’Connor, D. and Mullen, A.M. (2009). Gene expression analysis of porcine muscle divergent in intramuscular fat content. Paper no.48, Pig Genome III Conference, November 2-4,2009,  Cambridge, UK.