Cathriona Foley

Cathriona Foley joined the Department of Surgery in 2022 as a Lecturer. She holds a BSc. in Biochemistry from University College Cork (UCC) and a PhD in Immunology from Trinity College Dublin (TCD). Research experience was gained as a Research Officer on an EU FP7 project coordinated by Teagsac and in academia as a Postdoctoral Researcher between the School of Biochemistry and Immunology in TCD, Ireland and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Institutes of Medicine, Boston. Returning to Cork in 2019 she lectured in the Department of Biological Sciences in Munster Technological University. Since joining the Department of Surgery in UCC she has established her research in UCCs Clinical Sciences Building at Cork University Hospital to focus on Surgical Immunology and Oncology during the perioperative period.

Our research focus is to understand the impact of surgically induced inflammation and subsequent immunosuppression on innate lymphocytes, such as γδ T cells, and residual cancer cells at the site of tumour excision. Perturbations in postoperative inflammation and wound healing, at the tumour excision site, contributes to a microenvironment that supports immunosuppression, while promoting cancer cell growth and proliferation, leading to cancer recurrence. State-of-the-art technologies such as Single Cell (sc)RNA-Seq and multi-parameter Flow Cytometry are used to study immune cell states ex vivo and a molecular and biochemical approach is taken in vitro using tissue/cell culture. A translational research aim is to discover new ways of targeting residual cancer cells by developing surgical adjuvants, to rebalance and harness the perioperative immune response, improving cancer cell elimination. Another translational research aim is to identify novel diagnostic biomarkers of dysregulated immune responses and wound healing, prognostic biomarkers of cancer recurrence and predictive/immune monitoring biomarkers of surgical adjuvant treatments. Liquid biopsies are a non invasive approach to facilitate earlier detection of cancer recurrence and treatment responses by molecular and cellular characterisation of cell free (cf)DNA and immune cell biomarkers in blood using technologies such as Next Generation Sequencing and Flow Cytometry. Current Research PostgraduatesPhD Candidate - Karla O'Shea PhD Candidate - Amy Walsh MD Candidate - Mr. Padraig Folan Past Research Postgraduates MD Graduate - Dr. Stephanie O Callaghan MD Graduate - Dr.

Undergraduate Teaching Supervise and examine undergraduate research projects and literature reviews for the Biomedical Science Programme (MT871), Module BM4013 and undergraduate research projects for the Medical Degree Programme (CK701), Modules MX3020 and MX4091. Undergraduate Module Coordinator Module Coordinator and lecturer on the Module SY4002 Cancer Immunology and Cellular Immunotherapy a 5 credit elective module in the 4th year of the BSc Medical and Health Sciences course. https://ucc-ie-public.courseleaf.com/modules/?details&srcdb=2025&code=SY4002 Postgraduate Teaching MCh in Surgical Science (MCHSC) - contributed to the development of the Module SY6001 Essentials in Surgery 1 - Infection Prevention and Management including Antibiotic Stewardship, Wound Management and Healing. Postgraduate Module Coordinator Module Coordinator and lecturer on the Module SY6004 Surgical Immunology a 5 credit module in the postgraduate MCh in Surgical Science (MCHSC) programme. https://ucc-ie-public.courseleaf.com/modules/?details&srcdb=2023&code=SY6004