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Professor Andrew Harkin

Professor in Pharmacology (Pharmacy)
Deputy Director of TCIN (Trinity Inst. of Neurosciences (TCIN))
25/6/7 WESTLAND ROW
      
Profile Photo

Professor Andrew Harkin

Professor in Pharmacology (Pharmacy)
25/6/7 WESTLAND ROW

 aharkin@tcd.ie

 3531896 2807

Deputy Director of TCIN (Trinity Inst. of Neurosciences (TCIN))


Andrew Harkin is Professor in Pharmacology in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Trinity College Dublin. He is a graduate of NUI Galway (B.Sc. 1994; Ph.D. 1998) and prior to joining Trinity College held a lecturing post in the School of Pharmacy, University College Cork. He was elected to Fellowship in Trinity College in 2011. Over the course of his research career he worked in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Safety Pharmacology Laboratories at H. Lunbeck A/S Valby, Copenhagen and has held post-doctoral research fellowships funded by the Higher Education Authority (Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions) and the Health Research Board of Ireland (career development award, 2002). He leads the Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group in Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN) funded by the European Commission (Framework 7 - Brain Imaging Return to Health [R'Birth], a Marie Curie international training network for early stage and experienced researchers and MOODINFLAME; a collaborative, large-scale focused research project with a variety of academic and industrial partners focused on early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mood disorders targeting the activated inflammatory response system. He has also received project funding from Science Foundation Ireland, Health Research Board and the Irish Research Council. His group collaborates with a variety of academic and industrial partners on fundamental and clinical projects. Current research interests include bi-directional nervous system immune interactions, the role of stress and inflammation in the pathogenesis of mental illness, potential of anti-inflammatory agents in treating neurological and psychiatric disorders, targeting glutamate neuronal transmission in neuropsychiatric disorders and safety pharmacology of recreational drugs. He has co-authored peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and published abstracts/conference proceedings and delivered invited lectures and oral presentations at international conferences, workshops and various research institutions. He is a member of the International College of Neuropsychopharmacolgy (CINP), the British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) and the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society (PNIRS) and is a past recipient of the CINP Rafaelsen award in recognition of his commitment to the field of neuropsychopharmacology. He is on the editorial boards of a number of journals including Acta Neuropsychiatrica, Brain Behavior and Immunity, PLOS ONE, and Frontiers in Neuropharmacology and Behavioural Neuroscience. He is a founder member of the Depression Interest Group, currently serves as deputy director of the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and chairs the Animal Welfare Body in TCD. He has a long standing track record in mentoring and training of PhD students, 25 students having completed to date, and has participated in PhD training programmes in TCIN funded under the auspices of the PRTLI. He currently teaches on a number of undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes in TCD including the Pharmacy degree, B.A. Moderatorship in Neuroscience and M.Sc. programmes in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Technology, Neuroscience, Addiction Recovery and Molecular Medicine and is former Director of Postgraduate Teaching and Learning in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
  Addiction and substance abuse   Animal Research Policy   Depression   Emotional, behavioural and cognitive disorders   Ethics/Values in Science and Technology   Histology   Histology, Cytochemistry, Histochemistry   Imaging Techniques   In vitro testing, trial methods   MDMA ("Ecstasy")   Medicine   Neurobiology   Neurochemistry and neuropharmacology   Neurodegeneration   Neuroimaging   Neuroimmunology   Neuropharmacology   Neuroplasticity   Neuroscience   Neurotoxicity   PHARMACODYNAMICS   PHARMACOKINETIC   PHARMACOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION   PHARMACOLOGICAL EVIDENCE   PHARMACOLOGICAL TREATMENT   PHARMACOLOGY   Physiology   Psychiatry   Stress Response, Neuroanatomy
Project Title
 A translational investigation of the anti-inflammatory and antidepressant effects of psychedelics in Depression.
From
2022
To
2027
Summary
Funding Agency
Health Research Board
Programme
Investigator Led Project
Project Type
Research award
Person Months
51
Project Title
 Targeting the noradrenergic system for anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective actions in a clinically relevant model of Parkinson's disease
From
2020
To
2022
Summary
Accumulation of α-synuclein (α-syn), a major constituent of pathological Lewy body inclusions in the brain associated with Parkinson's disease, leads to microglial activation. Therapeutic approaches that reduce microglial activation may halt development and progression of neurodegeneration. Noradrenaline is a neurotransmitter known to elicit anti-inflammatory actions in the brain by stimulating specific receptors expressed by microglia. We propose that increasing noradrenaline's availability or targeting its receptor will ameliorate α-syn associated microglial activation, inflammation and degeneration of neurons. This project will determine whether targeting noradrenaline to elicit anti-inflammatory effects in the brain translates into neuroprotective effects.
Funding Agency
Irish Research Council
Programme
Enterprise Partnership Scheme
Project Type
Postdoctoral fellowship
Person Months
24
Project Title
 Assessment of a neuroprotective role for noradrenaline in combating alpha-synuclein-related neuroinflammation toward a new treatment strategy for Parkinson's disease.
From
2020
To
2024
Summary
Accumulation of the alpha-synuclein protein in the brain is a pathogenic hallmark of Parkinson's Disease, and is understood to trigger neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, motor deficit and cognitive decline in patients with the disease. It has been established that the neurotransmitter Noradrenaline (NA), upon interaction with its receptor (beta2-adrenoceptor), has potent anti-inflammatory properties, and is innate in maintaining an immunosuppressive environment within the brain. While compelling evidence from experimentation with inflammatory models of Parkinson's highlights robust neuroprotective effects of drugs targeting NA, the ability of such drugs to ameliorate alpha-synuclein-induced neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, motor and cognitive deficits in clinically relevant models of Parkinson's is unknown. To address this question, this project will determine if targeting beta2-adrenoceptors alleviates alpha-synuclein-induced microglial activation and associated neurotoxicity in cultured animal and human cells. Additionally, this project will establish an experimental model which simulates the clinical and pathological features of Parkinson's, and apply the model to determine if NA, or other pharmacological interventions which directly stimulate beta2-adrenoceptors, ameliorate the pathogenic features of the disease induced by the delivery of pathogenic forms of alpha-synuclein to the brain. The results will indicate if pharmacologically targeting beta2-adrenoceptors has the propensity to regulate the neuroinflammatory phenotype in vivo, and be a neuroprotective strategy against inflammation-induced neurodegeneration. In accordance, clinical agents such as beta2-adrenoceptor agonists may prove useful as protective agents in the treatment of neurodegenerative conditions associated with brain inflammation.
Funding Agency
Irish Research Council
Programme
Enterprise Partnership Scheme
Project Type
Postgraduate scholarship
Person Months
48
Project Title
 Investigating the Kynurenine Pathway as a Central Regulator of Neuronal Resilience
From
2022
To
2026
Summary
Funding Agency
Irish research council
Programme
Postgraduate enterprise partnership scheme
Project Type
Research award
Person Months
48
Project Title
 Sex matters: Identifying the neurodevelopmental origins of sex differences in depression
From
2022
To
2026
Summary
Funding Agency
Research Ireland
Programme
Frontiers for the future
Project Type
Research award
Person Months
48

Page 1 of 4
Details Date
Member of external assessment committee to evaluate proposal for Collaborative Research Centres funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation). 2018
Member of external assessment committee to evaluate proposals for Centres of Excellence for Improving International Scientific Competitiveness funded by the Estonian Research Council. 2015
I have served as External examiner for PhD candidates in United Arab Emirates University, College of Medicine, Al Ain; Aarhus University, Denmark; University of Turku, Finland; University of Tartu, Estonia; Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; University of Nottingham, UK; University College Cork; University College Dublin; National University of Ireland Galway; Royal College of Surgeons Dublin. from 2012
Consultant on psychoactive substances to the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and Forensic Science Laboratory of the Department of Justice in criminal prosecution proceedings and to the Dublin coroner's court providing expert reports, opinion and testimony. from 2010
I am a member of editorial boards of Brain Behavior and Immunity, PLOS One, Frontiers in Neuropharmacology, Frontiers in Behavioural Neuroscience and Acta Neuropsychiatrica. from 2015
I have served as an expert reviewer for international grant awarding bodies including the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), German Research Foundation Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG); The Ontario Mental Health Foundation; Research Foundation - Flanders (Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Vlaanderen, FWO); Estonian Research Council and National Science Centre, Poland. I have also served as reviewer of research grant applications for the Health Research Board of Ireland. from 2012
I am a regular peer reviewer for international neuroscience and pharmacology journals including Nature Communications, Neuropsychopharmacology, Psychopharmacology, Journal of Psychopharmaology, International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, European Neuropsychopharmacology, Neuropharmacology, European Journal of Pharmacology, British Journal of Pharmacology, Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Behavioral Pharmacology, Brain Behavior and Immunity, Neuroscience, European Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of Neuroscience, CNS Drug Reviews, Molecular Brain Research, Behavioural Brain Research, Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews, Neuroscience Letters, Physiology and Behavior. from 2010
Details Date From Date To
Neuroscience Ireland 2012 Present
Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society 2010 present
Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum 2003 present
British Pharmacological Society 2003 present
British Association for Psychopharmacology 1997 present
Gribben, A., Burke, T., Harrington, C., Husein, A., Murnane, K. S., Hendricks, P. S., Tobin, K., Ivers, J. H., Thuery, G., Harkin, A. & Kelly, J. R., Amid magic and menace: psychiatrists' attitudes to psilocybin therapy, Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 2024, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Stojanovic, N.M, Randelovic, P.J., Simonovic,M., Radic, M. Todorovic, S., Corrigan, M., Harkin, A. and Boylan F., Essential Oil Constituents as Anti-Inflammatory and Neuroprotective Agents: an Insight through Microglia Modulation, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 25, (10), 2024, p5166-, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
Ryan KM, Corrigan M, Murphy TM, McLoughlin DM, Harkin A, Gene expression of kynurenine pathway enzymes in depression and following electroconvulsive therapy, Acta Neuropsychiatrica, 2024, Notes: [In Press], Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Rebecca Maher, Almudena Moreno-Borrallo, Dhruvi Jindal, Binh T Mai, Eduardo Ruiz-Hernandez, Andrew Harkin, Intranasal Polymeric and Lipid-Based Nanocarriers for CNS Drug Delivery, Pharmaceutics, 15, (3), 2023, p746-, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Grandjean J, Desrosiers-Gregoire G, Anckaerts C, Angeles-Valdez D, Ayad F, Barrière DA, Blockx I, Bortel A, Broadwater M, Cardoso BM, Célestine M, Hess A, A consensus protocol for functional connectivity analysis in the rat brain., Nature neuroscience, 2023, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Plini ERG, Melnychuk MC, Harkin A, Dahl MJ, McAuslan M, Kühn S, Boyle RT, Whelan R, Andrews R, Düzel S, Drewelies J, Wagner GG, Lindenberger U, Norman K, Robertson IH, Dockree PM., Dietary Tyrosine Intake (FFQ) Is Associated with Locus Coeruleus, Attention and Grey Matter Maintenance: An MRI Structural Study on 398 Healthy Individuals of the Berlin Aging Study-II., J Nutr Health Aging, 27, (12), 2023, p1174 - 1187, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Sullivan M, Fernandez-Aranda F, Camacho-Barcia L, Harkin A, Macrì S, Mora-Maltas B, Jiménez-Murcia S, O'Leary A, Ottomana AM, Presta M, Slattery D, Scholtz S, Glennon JC., Insulin and disorders of behavioural flexibility., Neurosci Biobehav Rev., 150, 2023, p105169-, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
John R. Kelly, Gerard Clarke, Andrew Harkin, Sinead C. Corr, Stephen Galvin, Vishnu Pradeep, John F. Cryan, Veronica O'Keane, Timothy G. Dinan, Seeking the Psilocybiome: Psychedelics meet the microbiota-gut-brain axis, International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 2022, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
Kelly JR, Gillan CM, Prenderville J, Kelly C, Harkin A, Clarke G, O'Keane V, Psychedelic Therapy's Transdiagnostic Effects: A Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Perspective., Frontiers in psychiatry, 2021, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Roddy, D. and Kelly, J.R. and Farrell, C. and Doolin, K. and Roman, E. and Nasa, A. and Frodl, T. and Harkin, A. and O'Mara, S. and O'Hanlon, E. and O'Keane, V., Amygdala substructure volumes in Major Depressive Disorder, NeuroImage: Clinical, 31, (102781), 2021, Notes: [cited By 4], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
  

Page 1 of 16
Corrigan M, O'Rourke AM, Moran B, Fletcher JM, Harkin A., Inflammation in the pathogenesis of depression: a disorder of neuroimmune origin., Neuronal Signal, 7, (2), 2023, pNS20220054-, Review Article, PUBLISHED
O'Reilly K, O'Farrell K, Midttun O, Rakovets Y, David-Bercholz J, Harkin A., Kynurenic Acid Protects Against Reactive Glial-associated Reductions in the Complexity of Primary Cortical Neurons., J Neuroimmune Pharmacol., 16, (3), 2021, p679 - 692, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Cardoso dos Santos LE, Rakovets, Y, Harkin, A, and Gobbo, OL and Ruiz-Hernandez E , In vivo evaluation of a hydrogel-nanoparticles formulation to treat glioblastoma multiforme, Controlled Research Society , Vitrual Annual Meeting, June 2020, 2020, Poster, PUBLISHED
Harkin, A., Inflammation and psychiatric disorders; Is inflammation getting on your nerves?, Invited lecture, United Arab Emirates University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, June , 2019, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
O'Neill, E., Harkin, A., Beta2-adrenoceptor stimulation restrains microglial activation and attenuates advancements in dopamine cell loss and motor dysfunction following systemic inflammation in an animal model of Parkinson's disease, British Neuroscience Association, Festival of Science, Dublin, April, 2019, 2019, Poster, PUBLISHED
Harkin, A., Neuroinflammation in Psychiatric Disorders, Institute of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Innsbruck, 2018, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
O'Reilly, K., David, J., O'Toole, E., Harkin, A., Astrocytic ablation by L-alpha amino adipic acid (L-AAA) induces neuronal atrophy; rescue by NMDA-R amtagonists and inhibitors of the PSD-95/nNOS interaction., All Ireland Schools of Pharmacy Conference, University College Cork, 2017, 2018, Poster, PUBLISHED
Harkin, A., Stress, inflammation and tryptophan metabolism in the pathogenesis of depression, Novel mechanisms of resilience and stress-related disorders, Goethe University Frankfurt, September, 2017, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Harkin, A., Targeting Glial associated neuronal atrophy in stress, inflammatory and neurodegenerative disorders, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma Gmbh +Co. KG, CNS Discovery Research, 2017, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED
Harkin, A., Glial associated neuronal atrophy in schizophrenia; insights and concepts of therapy., iPsychosis international meeting on basic and clincal aspects of immune function in psychosis, National University of Ireland, Galway, 2017, Invited Talk, PUBLISHED

  


Page 1 of 18
Award Date
Recipient of TCD Provost's PhD Project Award 2019
Honorary Professor (Translational Neuropsychiatry) Aarhus University 2018
Fellowship Trinity College Dublin 2011
British Association for Psychopharmacology Certificate in Psychopharmacology 2005
CINP Young Investigator Award. 2004
Health Research Board career development fellowship 2002
My research falls within the remit of Neuropsychopharmacology, a discipline that links neuroscience to the pharmacological treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders. My work contributes to understanding the psychopharmacology of nitric oxide (NO), targeting glutamate neuronal transmission for antidepressant action, the role of stress and inflammation in the pathogenesis of brain disorders, anti-inflammatory properties of noradrenergic agents as a potential therapeutic strategy in neurodegenerative disorders and safety pharmacology of recreational drugs, reported in peer-reviewed publications in international journals. My group utilize a range of behavioural, imaging, molecular, cellular and analytical techniques including bottom up laboratory and top down clinical approaches and I have ongoing collaborations with a number of industrial partners and investigators from a variety of disciplines. Current research on neuroinflammation and glia-neuronal interactions is focused on molecular pathways including glutamate-NO, noradrenaline and tryptophan-kynurenine pathways implicated in neurodegeneration in efforts to identify pharmacological interventions of potential therapeutic benefit. Furthermore, inhibition of the glutamate NMDA receptor (NMDA-R) subtype has shown considerable promise as a drug target to produce new antidepressants that work faster, and are more effective than existing antidepressants. A working hypothesis is that targeting signaling events down-stream of NMDA-R including NO may provide a more viable approach and current research is assessing such targets for development of novel antidepressant agents. I have engaged in projects funded by the European Commission including "ReBirth", a Marie Curie funded international training network for early stage and experienced researchers; MOODINFLAME, a collaborative research project with a variety of academic and industrial partners focused on targeting the activated inflammatory response system in mood disorders; and participated in "MolCellbio", a PhD training programme funded by the Higher Education Authority. I have also received funding from Science Foundation Ireland, Health Research Board and the Irish Research Council.