University College Cork

1. Home
2. Physiology
3. People
4. Sophie Casey

‍

Biography

Dr Sophie Casey received a BSc Hons degree in Neuroscience from University College Cork in 2016. Following this, she pursued a PhD in the area of paediatric neuroimmunology, during which time she examined the temporal alterations in inflammation-driven molecular markers in clinical and preclinical cases of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy with and without inflammatory sensitisation, as well as autism spectrum disorders. She was awarded a PhD in Medicine from University College Cork in 2021. 

Dr Casey's current research focuses on the investigation of novel psychedelic inspired neuroprotective therapies for neurodegenerative diseases with an inflammatory milieu, and the specific mechanisms by which these compounds act within the nervous system. ‍

Research Interests

My research interests lie within the area of psychedelic compounds, particularly for the treatment of diseases and disorders with an inflammatory milieu, such as neurodegenerative diseases. My current research focuses on the potential neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory action of psychedelic ayahuasca-derived harmala alkaloids in cellular models of Parkinson's Disease. 

Research Grants

	Project	Funding Body	Start Date	End Date	Award
	Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship	Irish Research Council

‍

Publications

‍

Peer Reviewed Journals

	Year	Publication
	(2022)	'Maternal Immune Activation and Interleukin 17A in the Pathogenesis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Why It Matters in the COVID-19 Era' Carter, M;Casey, S;O'Keeffe, GW;Gibson, L;Gallagher, L;Murray, DM (2022) 'Maternal Immune Activation and Interleukin 17A in the Pathogenesis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Why It Matters in the COVID-19 Era'. Frontiers in psychiatry, 13 [DOI] [Details]
	(2021)	'Maternal Mid-Gestation Cytokine Dysregulation in Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder' Casey, S;Carter, M;Looney, AM;Livingstone, V;Moloney, G;O'Keeffe, GW;Taylor, RS;Kenny, LC;McCarthy, FP;McCowan, LME;Thompson, JMD;Murray, DM (2021) 'Maternal Mid-Gestation Cytokine Dysregulation in Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder'. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, [DOI] [Details]
	(2021)	'Early-life oxytocin attenuates the social deficits induced by caesarean-section delivery in the mouse' Morais, LH;Golubeva, AV;Casey, S;Scott, KA;Costa, APR;Moloney, GM;Dinan, TG;Cryan, JF (2021) 'Early-life oxytocin attenuates the social deficits induced by caesarean-section delivery in the mouse'. Neuropsychopharmacology, 46 :1958-1968 [DOI] [Details]
	(2021)	'Up-Regulation of Nfat5 mRNA and Fzd4 mRNA as a Marker of Poor Outcome in Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy' O'Sullivan, MP;Casey, S;Finder, M;Ahearne, C;Clarke, G;Hallberg, B;Boylan, GB;Murray, DM (2021) 'Up-Regulation of Nfat5 mRNA and Fzd4 mRNA as a Marker of Poor Outcome in Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy'. Journal of Pediatrics, 228 :74-81 [DOI] [Details]
	(2021)	'Mid-gestation cytokine profiles in mothers of children affected by autism spectrum disorder: a case-control study' Carter, M;Casey, S;O'Keeffe, GW;Gibson, L;Murray, DM (2021) 'Mid-gestation cytokine profiles in mothers of children affected by autism spectrum disorder: a case-control study'. Scientific Reports, 11 [DOI] [Details]
	(2020)	'Temporally Altered miRNA Expression in a Piglet Model of Hypoxic Ischemic Brain Injury' Casey, S;Goasdoue, K;Miller, SM;Brennan, GP;Cowin, G;O'Mahony, AG;Burke, C;Hallberg, B;Boylan, GB;Sullivan, AM;Henshall, DC;O'Keeffe, GW;Mooney, C;Bjorkman, T;Murray, DM (2020) 'Temporally Altered miRNA Expression in a Piglet Model of Hypoxic Ischemic Brain Injury'. Molecular Neurobiology, [DOI] [Details]
	(2018)	'RNA-sequencing analysis of umbilical cord plasma microRNAs from healthy newborns' Brennan, GP;Vitsios, DM;Casey, S;Looney, AM;Hallberg, B;Henshall, DC;Boylan, GB;Murray, DM;Mooney, C (2018) 'RNA-sequencing analysis of umbilical cord plasma microRNAs from healthy newborns'. Plos One, 13 [DOI] [Details]

‍

Professional Activities

‍

Committees

	Committee	Function	From / To
	School of Medicine Graduate Studies Committee	Member	/

‍

Education

	Year	Institution	Qualification	Subject
	2016	University College Cork	BSc (Hons) Neuroscience	Neuroscience
	2021	University College Cork	PhD Medicine	Paediatric Neuroscience

‍

Journal Activities

	Journal	Role	To / From
	Journal Of Neuroimmunology	Peer Reviewer	-
	Scientific Reports	Peer Reviewer	-

‍

Teaching Activities

‍

Teaching Interests

Current:
FM1010/MH1010 Foundations of Medicine I - Introductory Human Biology
FM1040/MH1040 Foundations of Medicine IV - Gastrointestinal, Nutritional & Metabolic Biology
FM2101/MH2101 Foundations of Medicine - Neuroscience 
GM2001 Fundamentals of Medicine IV
MH1050 Introduction to Translational Research
MH2020 Research Methods in Medical Sciences
PL2033 The Nervous System *Module coordinator
PL3020 Neurophysiology *Module coordinator
PL3024 Digestive Physiology *Module coordinator

I also contribute to MH3010 Structured Literature Project in Medical & Health Sciences, MH4010 Research Project in Medical & Health Sciences, PL3025 Literature Review, Experimental Design & Data Analysis, & PL4020 Research Project in Physiology as a supervisor. 

To date, I have supervised three BSc Medical & Health Science, & three BSc Physiology final year research projects on the topic of psychedelic-derived compounds for neuroprotection in neurodegeneration. 

Previous:
AN2004 Human Histology
AN3013 Neurobiology of Disease
AN4016 Neurodevelopmental Biology Approaches to Brain Repair
GM1003 Fundamentals of Medicine III
MH3050 Advances in Translational Medicine 
PL3001 Pathophysiology
PL4015 Microbiome & Physiology