Gary Brennan

Dr. Gary Brennan joined the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science in The Conway Institute, University College Dublin in 2020 as an assistant professor.
Undergraduate training in Genetics and Cell Biology was undertaken at Dublin City University between 2005 and 2009. In 2009 Gary moved to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland to perform postgraduate studies in the lab of Professor David Henshall studying the role of anti-apoptotic proteins in seizure-induced neuronal death. This was followed by postdoctoral training with Professor Tallie Z. Baram in the Dept of Paediatrics at the University of California-Irvine as a George E Hewitt postdoctoral fellow. His work during this time focused on understanding how the epigenetic repressor, NRSF/REST, contributes to the development of epilepsy following epilepsy-inciting brain insults by repressing critical neuronal genes. Further interests during this time interrogated the regulatory mechanisms governing NRSF expression during epilepsy development and the complex interactions between microRNAs and epigenetic regulation of gene expression.

In 2015 Gary returned to the RCSI and received a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship to continue studying the role of microRNA in neuronal function and in epilepsy. In 2017 Gary was awarded a Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE) Taking Flight Award to establish his own group and to begin studying the role of RNA modifications in epilepsy. In 2019 he was then awarded a Starting Investigator Research Grant from Science Foundation Ireland to study RNA methylation in epilepsy and epilepsy-associated cognitive impairment.


Gary is a Funded Investigator of the FutureNeuro Research Center based at RCSI.