Research output per year
Research output per year
Personal profile
Biography
Gerard O’Keeffe is Professor and Head of the Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience (2024 - present) and Vice-Head for Research and Innovation at College of Medicine and Health (2023 - present). He has also served as a Fellow at the Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning at University College Cork (UCC) in Ireland (2017-2022).
Professor O’Keefe has received a number of fellowships and awards including a Career Development Award from Science Foundation Ireland in 2015 and UCC PhD Supervisor of Year in 2019. He served as an elected member of governing body of the Anatomy Society, one of the world’s oldest anatomical societies. He was awarded fellowship of the Anatomical Society (post-nominals FAS) in 2022, and was also awarded the new Fellow of the year award, which recognises the Fellow of the Society who is deemed to have the most significant career accomplishments to date.
Gerard graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) and PhD in Neuroscience from UCC after the award of a PhD fellowship from the Irish Research Council. He was a visiting researcher at the Karolinska institute in Sweden, which was followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the School of Biosciences in Cardiff University in the UK. He has also graduated with a post-graduate certificate, diploma and MA in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education from UCC. He is a founding member of the Parkinson’s Disease Research Cluster (PDRC) and the Brain Development and Brain Repair Group at UCC, which is now part of UCC Futures Ageing & Brain Science.
Research Interests
Prof. O’Keeffe’s current research interests are focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate midbrain dopaminergic neuron development and degeneration and how these can be applied to developing new therapies for Parkinson’s disease.
Teaching Activities
Signature pedagogies are the precise forms of teaching and learning that define the fundamental educational framework that prepares students for a particular profession. They are the units of educational inheritance of the professions. But if they are to be a true unit of educational inheritance, they should continue to evolve and change to allow the professions to adapt to an ever changing world in which they are based. However this is not always the case.
Using a SoTL based approached my research interests are in mapping the existing signature pedagogies for the life sciences in medical education onto the teaching for understanding (TfU) framework. This approach allows the design of new signature pedagogies that map fully onto the TfU framework and are subject to a process of "educational natural selection". The impact of these changes in the context of fitness to practice is being assessed as students move through their medical education.
Research Grants
| Funding Body | Title | Period | Award |
|
Health Research Board |
Defining the potential of GDF-5 as a novel therapeutic for Parkinson's desease. HRB HRA/2009/127: Defining the potential of GDF-5 as a novel therapeutic for Parkinson's disease (R13258) |
01-OCT-09 / 30-SEP-12 |
€147,051.00 |
|
Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering & Technology (IRCSET) |
The potential of the endocannabinoid system as a pharmacological target for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (R14088) |
11-JUL-11 / 10-JUL-13 |
€79,280.00 |
|
Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering & Technology (IRCSET) |
IRCSET EMBARK PG Aoife Nolan (R13238) |
01-OCT-09 / 30-SEP-13 |
€72,009.00 |
|
Science Foundation of Ireland |
Defining the potential of the transmembrane GITR receptor as a novel therapeutic for PNS neuropathies (R13589) |
01-AUG-10 / 31-JUL-14 |
€220,400.00 |
|
Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering & Technology (IRCSET) |
Maternal Inflammation and Foetal Nigrostriatal Development (R14621) |
01-SEP-12 / 31-AUG-15 |
€72,000.00 |
|
Irish Research Council |
Identification of Smad-Interacting protein 1 (Sip 1) as a novel regulator of ventral midbrain dopaminergic neuron development (R15897) |
01-OCT-14 / 30-SEP-15 |
€45,828.00 |
|
Science Foundation of Ireland |
Development of GDF5 neurotrophic factor therapy for Parkinson's Disease (R17210) |
01-DEC-16 / 30-NOV-20 |
€639,453.00 |
|
UCC TRAP (Translational Research Access Programme) |
To determine the effects and mechanisms by which prenatal stress reduces placntal HSD1182 expression and to develop protective pharmacotherapy for the human placenta |
01-OCT-14 / 30-SEP-15 |
€9,000.00 |
|
Enterprise Ireland |
Wnts and TGF-betas interactions in midbrain dopaminergic neuron development |
01-JUL-03 / 30-JUN-04 |
€7,000.00 |
|
Health Research Board |
Summer Scholarship (R16438) |
02-JUN-15 / 24-JUL-15 |
€2,000.00 |
|
Other: Not Listed |
Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy: Validating the term and pretrem animal approach and its relationship to clinical diagnosis |
01-OCT-14 / 30-SEP-15 |
€22,035.00 |
|
Irish Research Council |
The role of Smad transcription factors in embryonic neuronal survival |
01-OCT-10 / 30-SEP-13 |
€72,000.00 |
|
Leverhulme Trust |
Identifying the roles of GDF in neuronal survival and growth |
01-OCT-08 / 30-SEP-09 |
€55,000.00 |
|
Irish Research Council |
Characterisation of the expression and function of GDF5 in the rat brain |
01-OCT-00 / 30-SEP-04 |
€51,000.00 |
|
Irish Research Council |
Supplement: Characterisation of the expression and function of GDF5 in the developing rat brain |
01-OCT-00 / 30-SEP-03 |
€9,000.00 |
|
Other: Not Listed |
Defining the role of the HDAC5 in the regulation of the placental HSD11B2 glucocorticoid barrier in an in vitro model of the human placenta |
02-JUN-14 / 19-SEP-14 |
€500.00 |
|
Other: Not Listed |
Investigator of the cellular and molecular consequences of maternal inflammation on the cytoarchitecture of the developing spinal cord |
01-OCT-14 / 30-SEP-17 |
€77,830.00 |
|
National University of Ireland (NUI) |
Molecular Mechanisms regulatiing the Sip1-mediated regulation of neurite growth in the developing brain |
01-OCT-15 / 30-SEP-16 |
€45,000.00 |
|
Irish Funded Research |
NUI Fellowship in Sciences Shane Hegarty (R16189) |
01-OCT-15 / 30-SEP-17 |
€57,300.00 |
|
Irish Research Council |
Understanding and Preventing the Impact of Pre-Eclampsia on the Neurodevelopmental Outcome in Exposed Offspring (R18952) |
01-SEP-19 / 31-DEC-23 |
€105,333.00 |
|
Science Foundation of Ireland |
(R19697) |
01-DEC-20 / 31-MAY-25 |
€618,491.00 |
|
Irish Research Council |
Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship 2017; Martina Mazzocchi; GOIPG/2017/945; "The Epigenome as a therapeutic target for Parkinson's disease."; Gerard O'Keeffe (R17631) |
01-OCT-17 / 30-SEP-21 |
€98,625.00 |
|
Horizon 2020 |
Development of BMP2 Neurotrophic Therapy for Parkinson's Disease (R19438) |
01-SEP-20 / 31-AUG-22 |
€184,591.00 |
|
Irish Research Council |
Parkinson's Disease in a 'nuclear age': defining the role of histone deacetylases in dopaminergic degeneration and regeneration in Parkinson's Disease (R18301) |
01-OCT-18 / 30-SEP-22 |
€102,125.00 |
|
Foreign Research Institute |
SKOR1 inhibitionas a therapeutic approach - Parkinson's disease (R21752) |
01-OCT-23 / 30-SEP-26 |
€91,803.00 |
|
HEACOVID19 |
HEA COVID Support Call 4 (R21111) |
01-SEP-23 / 31-DEC-23 |
€6,164.00 |
|
Enterprise Irl |
Developing a Gut Microbiome-Based Therapy for Parkinson's Disease (R22855) |
27-FEB-25 / 26-FEB-27 |
€15,745.00 |
External positions
Member of Governing Body, Anatomy Society
Editorial Board, Neural Regeneration Research
UCC Futures (primary)
- Future Ageing and Brain Science
Other research affiliations
- UCC Futures - Future Medicines
- Parkinson's Disease Research Cluster
PhD Supervision
- Available for PhD supervision
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics where Gerard O'Keeffe is active. These topic labels come from the works of this person. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
- 1 Similar Profiles
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
-
Alpha-synuclein-induced upregulation of SKI family transcriptional corepressor 1: A new player in aging and Parkinson's disease?
Barrett, L., Bevans, R., Sullivan, A. M., Collins, L. M. & O'Keeffe, G. W., 1 Jan 2026, In: Neural Regeneration Research. 21, 1, p. 320-321 2 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Maternal serum from 'high-stress' pregnancies demonstrates bioactivity capable of attenuating neurite growth through a TNFα-dependent pathway in SH-SY5Y cells
Deady, C., Wilmes, L., McCarthy, F. P., Khashan, A. S., Clarke, G., Keane, J., McCarthy, C., O’Keeffe, G. W. & O’Mahony, S. M., 18 Jun 2026, In: Bioscience Reports. 46, 7, p. 1-12 12 p., BSR20260125.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Stigma and social symptoms in Parkinson’s disease: A scoping review
Gaiera, F., O’Shea, E., O’Keeffe, G. W., Doherty, M. & Timmons, S., 2026, In: Clinical Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. 14, 100446.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
The association between neonatal jaundice and autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study
Lee, A., Higgins, S., O’Driscoll, D., Mitchell, J. M., Walsh, B. H., O’Keeffe, G. W., Khashan, A. S. & Maher, G. M., 17 Apr 2026, In: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. p. 1-9 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Information-giving practices of Parkinson's Disease specialists in Ireland versus information preferences of people living with Parkinson's: A mixed-methods approach
Faherty, M., Gaiera, F., O'Shea, E., O'Keeffe, G. & Timmons, S., Dec 2025, p. 15-15. 1 p.Research output: Contribution to conference › Abstract › peer-review
Activities
- 1 Invited talk
-
Differential negative impact of prenatal stress on physiological systems in adulthood
Golubeva, A. (Speaker), Crampton, S. J. (Speaker), Desbonnet, L. (Speaker), Edge, D. (Speaker), Lomasney, K. W. (Speaker), Hyland, N. (Speaker), O'Halloran, K. (Speaker), Dinan, T. (Speaker), O'Keeffe, G. (Speaker) & Cryan, J. F. (Speaker)
7 Mar 2013 → 10 Mar 2013Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
Prizes
Press/Media
-
Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience wins Prestigious DELTA Award
O’Keeffe, G. W., McSweeney, P., Toulouse, A., O'Halloran, J. & Lone, M.
22/04/26
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media
-
University College Cork Reports Findings in Spontaneous Abortion (The association between threatened miscarriage in early pregnancy and depression or anxiety in offspring in late adolescence)
O'Keeffe, G., Khashan, A., Maher, G. & Maher, M.
25/04/25
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media
-
University College Cork Reports Findings in Parkinson's Disease (The class-IIa HDAC inhibitor TMP269 promotes BMP-Smad signalling and is neuroprotective in in vitro and in vivo 6-hydroxydopamine models of Parkinson's disease)
O'Keeffe, G., Sullivan, A., Morales-Prieto, N. & Collins, L.
30/01/25
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media
-
University College Cork Researchers Update Current Study Findings on Preeclampsia (An altered gut microbiome in pre-eclampsia: cause or consequence)
O'Keeffe, G., Mccarthy, F., O'Mahony, S. & Mccarthy, C.
17/05/24
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media
-
University College Cork Reports Findings in Anxiety Disorders (Maternal hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and depression or anxiety in adolescence: Findings from the millennium cohort study)
O'Keeffe, G., Khashan, A., Maher, G. & Maher, M.
6/12/23
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media