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4. Fiona McDonald

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Biography

Fiona McDonald received a B.Sc. degree (Jnt. Hons) in Physiology and Pharmacology from University College Dublin, in 2008. She carried out postgraduate research to assess the sex-specific impact of chronic intermittent hypoxia exposure on respiratory muscle function during development, and was awarded her PhD in 2014 from UCD. Fiona then carried out a 2-year post-doctoral fellowship funded by SIDS Calgary Society, at University of Calgary in Canada. Her project investigated the interaction of multiple stressors, including prenatal cigarette smoke exposure on neonatal cardiorespiratory function. In 2016, Fiona joined Professor Julian Paton’s lab at University of Bristol, UK to explore the underlying mechanisms of hypertension and novel therapeutic strategies. In 2018, Fiona joined the Department of Physiology as a Lecturer and Principle Investigator. The theme of Fiona’s research is understanding mechanism of early life stress, such as unstable patterns of oxygenation, on cardiorespiratory and motor function in preterm infants. Fiona has a keen interest in exploring sex-specific vulnerabilities during development. Her work seeks to identify novel preventative strategies for preterm infants to improve their long-term functional outcomes and their quality of life.‍

Research Interests

Respiratory control, muscle function, cardiovascular physiology, early life stress, hypoxia, sexual dimorphism, development

Research Grants

	Project	Funding Body	Start Date	End Date	Award
	Early life stress in preterm infants- Award Declined	Irish Research Council
	Trilogy of stressors in the neonatal period	UCC TRAP (Translational Research Access Programme)			€9,950.00
	A trilogy of stressors in the NICU: Towards therapy for preterm adversity.	Science Foundation Ireland	01-MAR-19	28-FEB-23	€511,000.00

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Publications

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Peer Reviewed Journals

	Year	Publication
	(2018)	'The shape of things to come: Early life stress stunts brainstem microglia, with lasting implications for cardiorespiratory control and plasticity' O'Halloran, KD;McDonald, FB (2018) 'The shape of things to come: Early life stress stunts brainstem microglia, with lasting implications for cardiorespiratory control and plasticity'. Experimental Physiology, 103 :1183-1184 [DOI] [Details]
	(2018)	'Caffeine therapy for apnoea of prematurity: Wake up to the fact that sex matters' McDonald FB;Dempsey EM;O'Halloran KD; (2018) 'Caffeine therapy for apnoea of prematurity: Wake up to the fact that sex matters'. Experimental Physiology, 103 (10) [DOI] [Details]
	(2018)	'Pharmacotherapies for apnoea of prematurity: time to pause and consider targeted sex-specific strategies?' O'Halloran KD;McDonald FB; (2018) 'Pharmacotherapies for apnoea of prematurity: time to pause and consider targeted sex-specific strategies?'. Experimental Physiology, 103 (2) [DOI] [Details]
	(2017)	'Thermal and cytokine responses to endotoxin challenge during early life' McDonald FB;Khawaja AM;Imran AA;Ellis ME;Chandrasekharan K;Hasan SU; (2017) 'Thermal and cytokine responses to endotoxin challenge during early life'. Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, 95 (12) [DOI] [Details]
	(2016)	'Early life exposure to chronic intermittent hypoxia primes increased susceptibility to hypoxia-induced weakness in rat sternohyoid muscle during adulthood' McDonald Fiona B.; Dempsey Eugene M.; O'Halloran Ken D. (2016) 'Early life exposure to chronic intermittent hypoxia primes increased susceptibility to hypoxia-induced weakness in rat sternohyoid muscle during adulthood'. Frontiers in Physiology, 7 [DOI] [Full Text] [Details]
	(2016)	'Effects of Gestational and Postnatal Exposure to Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia on Diaphragm Muscle Contractile Function in the Rat' McDonald, FB;Dempsey, EM;O'Halloran, KD (2016) 'Effects of Gestational and Postnatal Exposure to Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia on Diaphragm Muscle Contractile Function in the Rat'. Frontiers in Physiology, 7 [DOI] [Details]
	(2016)	'Sex, stress and sleep apnoea: decreased susceptibility to upper airway muscle dysfunction following intermittent hypoxia in females' O’Halloran, Ken D.; Lewis, Philip; McDonald, Fiona (2016) 'Sex, stress and sleep apnoea: decreased susceptibility to upper airway muscle dysfunction following intermittent hypoxia in females'. Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology, :1-7   [DOI] [Full Text] [Details]
	(2016)	'Cardiorespiratory control and cytokine profile in response to heat stress, hypoxia, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposure during early neonatal period' McDonald FB;Chandrasekharan K;Wilson RJ;Hasan SU; (2016) 'Cardiorespiratory control and cytokine profile in response to heat stress, hypoxia, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposure during early neonatal period'. Physiological reports, 4 (2) [DOI] [Details]
	(2016)	'Interactive effects of maternal cigarette smoke, heat stress, hypoxia, and lipopolysaccharide on neonatal cardiorespiratory and cytokine responses' McDonald, FB;Chandrasekharan, K;Wilson, RJA;Hasan, SU (2016) 'Interactive effects of maternal cigarette smoke, heat stress, hypoxia, and lipopolysaccharide on neonatal cardiorespiratory and cytokine responses'. American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 311 :1113-1124 [DOI] [Details]
	(2015)	'The beta(2)-adrenoceptor agonist terbutaline recovers rat pharyngeal dilator muscle force decline during severe hypoxia' McDonald, FB,Skelly, JR,O'Halloran, KD (2015) 'The beta(2)-adrenoceptor agonist terbutaline recovers rat pharyngeal dilator muscle force decline during severe hypoxia'. Oral Diseases, 21 :121-127 [DOI] [Details]
	(2015)	'Early life exposure to chronic intermittent hypoxia causes upper airway dilator muscle weakness, which persists into young adulthood' McDonald, FB;Williams, R;Sheehan, D;O'Halloran, KD (2015) 'Early life exposure to chronic intermittent hypoxia causes upper airway dilator muscle weakness, which persists into young adulthood'. Experimental Physiology, 100 :947-966 [DOI] [Details]
	(2015)	'Chronic intermittent hypoxia increases rat sternohyoid muscle NADPH oxidase expression with attendant modest oxidative stress' Williams, Robert; Lemaire, Paul; Lewis, Philip; McDonald, Fiona B.; Lucking, Eric; Hogan, Sean; Sheehan, David; Healy, Vincent; O'Halloran Ken D. (2015) 'Chronic intermittent hypoxia increases rat sternohyoid muscle NADPH oxidase expression with attendant modest oxidative stress'. Frontiers in Physiology, 6 [DOI] [Full Text] [Details]
	(2014)	'Effect of chronic intermittent hypoxia on the reflex recruitment of the genioglossus during airway obstruction in the anesthetized rat' Edge D;McDonald FB;Jones JF;Bradford A;O'Halloran KD; (2014) 'Effect of chronic intermittent hypoxia on the reflex recruitment of the genioglossus during airway obstruction in the anesthetized rat'. Progress In Brain Research, 209 [DOI] [Details]
	(2014)	'Chronic nitric oxide synthase inhibition does not impair upper airway muscle adaptation to chronic intermittent hypoxia in the rat' McDonald FB;Edge D;O'Halloran KD; (2014) 'Chronic nitric oxide synthase inhibition does not impair upper airway muscle adaptation to chronic intermittent hypoxia in the rat'. Progress In Brain Research, 212 [DOI] [Details]
	(2014)	'Novel method for conscious airway resistance and ventilation estimation in neonatal rodents using plethysmography and a mechanical lung' Zhang B;McDonald FB;Cummings KJ;Frappell PB;Wilson RJ; (2014) 'Novel method for conscious airway resistance and ventilation estimation in neonatal rodents using plethysmography and a mechanical lung'. Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology, 201 [DOI] [Details]

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Encyclopedia Entries

	Year	Publication
		Sensorimotor control of breathing in the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Sensorimotor control of breathing in the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. . Encyclopedia Entries. [DOI] [Details]

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Professional Activities

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Honours and Awards

	Year	Title	Awarding Body
	2017	HEA Associate Fellow	Higher Education Academy UK
	2019	Experimental Physiology Review Prize	Physiological Society
	2019	Aurora Leadership Programme	UCC

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Professional Associations

	Association	Function	From / To
	Physiological Society	Member	01-OCT-08 /

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Employment

	Employer	Position	From / To
	University of Calgary	Post doctoral Fellowship	01-JAN-14 / 31-DEC-15
	University of Bristol	Research Associate	01-JAN-16 / 21-AUG-17
	University College Cork	Post doctoral Researcher	01-SEP-17 / 31-AUG-18

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Education

	Year	Institution	Qualification	Subject
	2008	University College Dublin	Bachelor of Science	Physiology and Pharmacology
	2014	University College Dublin	PhD	Physiology

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Teaching Activities

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Modules Taught

	Term (ID))	Title	Link	Subject
	2021	Cardiovascular Biology	MH1020	Cardiovascular Biology

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Research Information

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Internal Collaborators

	Name	Institute	Country
	Professor Ken O'Halloran	Department of Physiology, UCC	IRELAND
	Professor Eugene Dempsey	Paediatrics and Child Health, UCC	IRELAND

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External Collaborators

	Name	Organisation / Institute	Country
	Professor Shabih Hasan	Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary	CANADA
	Professor Richard Wilson	Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Calgary	CANADA
	Dr. Valentina Mosienko	Department of Neuroscience, Exeter	UNITED KINGDOM