Dr Jane English is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, and a Principal Investigator at the INFANT Research Centre, University College Cork. Her research is focused on understanding the prenatal and perinatal molecular mechanisms implicated in neurodevelopmental conditions, with the goal of developing early-life biomarker screening tools. Jane graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Biotechnology from the National University of Ireland (NUI) Maynooth, and an MSc in Human Molecular Genetics from Imperial College London. She completed her PhD in Molecular Psychiatry at the Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), followed by post-doctoral research at UCD Conway Institute (M.J. Dunn Laboratory) and RCSI (Psychiatry), where she developed proteomic methods for studying psychiatric disorders. Dr English was awarded a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Industry Fellowship, undertaking a role as a Senior Scientist at Metabolomics Diagnostics Ltd. to gain commercial experience in diagnostic biomarker development. Her research programme in Autism Biomarker Discovery was supported by a Health Research Board (HRB) Emerging Investigator Award. She was appointed to her lectureship at UCC in 2018.

My research programme is fundamentally centred on the discovery of biologically relevant molecular pathways and diagnostic biomarkers for complex neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions. The primary goal is to translate these discoveries into clinical tools that improve health outcomes.

My specific research interests include:

• Biomarker Discovery for Neurodevelopmental Disorder: Identifying protein and metabolite biomarkers of Autism in neonatal cord blood (PMID: 40962828)
• Placental Biology: We are exploring the placenta as a key interface between the maternal and fetal environments, and a potential source of biomarkers, providing further insights into altered perinatal and neurodevelopmental trajectories.
• Biomarker Discovery Maternal/Perinatal Health: Collaborative metabolomics research in Preterm Birth (PMID: 31974687), Fetal Growth Restriction (PMID: 33398476), Pre-eclampsia (PMID: 32231385).
• Advanced Mass Spectrometry Workflows: Developing and applying advanced proteomic, metabolomic and bioinformatic methods for studying complex biological systems in health and disease. These expertise provide a direct and powerful methodological bridge to collaborative research in the areas of gut-brain axis, Alzheimer's disease, and clinical biomarker discovery (PMID: 38508906, PMID: 37849234, PMID:40153830; PMID: 39532277; PMID: 38658547).