Dr Éanna Fennell is a Lecturer in the Department of Pathology at University College Cork (UCC). His research investigates the immune response to Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and how viral immunity contributes to infectious diseases, cancer and autoimmune disorders. By integrating immunology, virology, human genetics and translational neuroscience, his research aims to define disease mechanisms and identify novel therapeutic targets.

Dr Fennell completed his undergraduate and doctoral training at the  University of Limerick, where he was awarded an Irish Research Council (IRC) Postgraduate Scholarship. Following his PhD, he was awarded an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship before securing a prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. During this time, he implemented advanced humanised models to investigate how EBV-specific immune responses contribute to multiple sclerosis pathogenesis.

His independent research programme combines patient-derived samples with advanced experimental and computational approaches to investigate immune responses to EBV across primary infection, autoimmunity and cancer. His work has been published in leading international journals, including Nature, Nature Communications and Leukaemia, and has been supported through competitive national and international funding.

Alongside his research programme, Dr Fennell is committed to fostering an inclusive research culture, mentoring early-career researchers and developing interdisciplinary collaborations that bridge fundamental discovery with clinical translation.

Dr Fennell's research focuses on understanding how Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) shapes the human immune response and contributes to infectious diseases, cancer and autoimmune disorders. His research integrates immunology, virology, human genetics and translational neuroscience to define the mechanisms that regulate antiviral immunity and determine disease susceptibility and progression.

A major focus of his research programme is understanding the role of EBV in multiple sclerosis (MS). His group investigates how genetic susceptibility influences antiviral immune responses and how immune dysfunction contributes to neuroinflammation and disease progression. This work combines patient-derived samples with advanced experimental models to uncover the molecular and cellular mechanisms linking EBV infection with MS pathology.

In parallel, his research investigates immune responses during primary EBV infection and the mechanisms underlying immune control of EBV-associated lymphomas. His laboratory has particular interests in T-cell immunology, myeloid cell biology, cytokine signalling and host–virus interactions, applying state-of-the-art approaches including functional genomics, single-cell technologies and spatial biology to investigate immune responses across infection, autoimmunity and cancer.