DCU researchers play key role in upcoming Cancer Research conference

A team of DCU academics and researchers will be playing an active part in the upcoming Irish Association for Cancer Research (IACR) Annual Conference taking place this week from Wednesday Feb 26 to Friday Feb 28 at the Galway Bay Hotel.

The Irish Association for Cancer Research is an All Ireland non-profit organisation for cancer researchers in the Irish biomedical community. It brings researchers from different disciplines together to share their expertise and the latest information to help promote greater understanding about cancer to ultimately help reduce the burden of cancer.

The 15 plus representation includes a large cohort from the National Institute of Cellular Biotechnology (NICB) at DCU and the newly formed School of Psychology at DCU.

The group comprises of Dr Alex Eustace, Dr Neil Conlon, Shannon Rebecca Nelson, Dr Naomi Walsh, Dr Denis Collins, Prof Paul Buchanan, Dr Sandra Roche, Justine Meiller, Dr Fiona O'Neill, Dr Nicola Gaynor, Taylor-Jade Allen-Coyle, Debbie O’Reilly, Dalal Al Sultan, Prof Pamela Gallagher, Head of the newly formed School of Psychology at DCU and Dr Nicholas Clarke (also School of Psychology).

This year's conference will cover a range of topics including Grant Writing, Nutrition and Exercise, Public and Patient Involvement in Research, Palliative and End of Life Care, Building Capacity in Nursing and Allied Health Research and Psycho-oncology and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures.

Shannon Nelson, whose PI is Dr Naomi Walsh, will deliver a number of talks and presentations including the IACR/EACR Early Career Research Symposium and Workshop and a scientific presentation during the Breakthrough Cancer Research Session. In addition to this, Shannon along with Dr Neil Conlon will present as part of the Patrick G. Johnston Award for Excellence in Cancer Research Outreach.

There will be oral presentations by Debbie O'Reilly (PhD researcher at NICB) as part of the Prof John Fitzpatrick series. Debbie, (Research winner at Silicon Republic’s InspireFest 2019) was a recipient of Irish Research Council funding under the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Programme and is currently pursuing a PhD in cancer biology at the NICB.

Prof Pamela Gallagher is one of this year's invited conference speakers as part of the Nursing and Allied Health Sciences Improving Cancer Care and Outcomes Series. Prof Gallagher will address this year's delegation on the topic of “the person, cancer survivorship and personally meaningful outcomes” while Dr Nicholas Clarke will deliver a talk on the topic of “the role of health literacy in self-management, quality of life and fear of recurrence in head and neck cancer survivors.”

This year’s event is also extra noteworthy, from a DCU perspective as on Friday, Feb 28th, Dr Neil Conlon (PI Dr Denis Collins) will be awarded the European Association of Cancer Researchers Young Researcher Award, a prestigious accolade presented to junior researchers chosen from across the island of Ireland. It is the first time that a DCU academic has been awarded this.

Dr Conlon has been recognised for his research work entitled “Pre-clinical rationale for combination of Neratinib and Dasatinib in HER2-positive breast cancer.”