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Dr. Mary Canavan

Assistant Professor (Biochemistry)

 canavam1@tcd.ie

 

Assistant Professor (Clinical Medicine TBSI)


Biography

My research focuses on understanding the immunological mechanisms which drive the development of autoimmune diseases, such Rheumatoid Arthritis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. We explore the role of innate and adaptive immunity in the pathogenesis these diseases. By using physiologically relevant ex-vivo models, across multiple disease stages, we aim to identify new biomarkers for disease onset, therapeutic response and disease severity. Finally, we collaborate with several pharmaceutical companies, clinicians, translational scientists and patients to maximise the impact of our work and ensure the successful translation of our findings from bench to bedside.

Research Tags

  Autoimmune Diseases (Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis)   Inflammation   Innate immunology   Rheumatology and rheumatological disorders

Research Projects

 Tissue Specific Immune Memory Mediates Disease Progression and Disease Flare in Rheumatoid Arthritis
 Restoration of Immunological Tolerance in Rheumatoid Arthritis via Metabolic Reprogramming of Dendritic Cells
 Restoration of Immunological Tolerance in Rheumatoid Arthritis via Metabolic Reprogramming
 Synovial T cell Memory Responses in Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Progression
 Ongoing Examination of the PD-1 Pathway throughout the Evolution of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Representations

Details Date
Organizer of Immunology Research Forum (IRF) Monthly seminar series in the area of Immunology hosted in Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute December 2022 to Present Date
Director: Centre for Arthritis and Rheumatic Diseases Responsible for strategic oversight in line with charities objectives. October 2020 - Present Date
Director : Irish Cancer Society I am responsible for the overall governance of the charity and ensuring the charities strategic goals are reached. September 2021 to Present Date
Chair: Research Advisory Committee | Irish Cancer Society I have full oversight and responsibility for all research activities and investments of the charity, and must ensure alignment with our strategic plan. May 2023 to Present Date
Associate Editor: BMC Rheumatology BMC Rheumatology editorial member responsible as part of a team for manuscripts in the Pre-clinical and Translational Science section. May 2017 to Present Date
Barker BE, Hanlon MM, Marzaioli V, Smith CM, Cunningham CC, Fletcher JM, Veale DJ, Fearon U, Canavan M., The mammalian target of rapamycin contributes to synovial fibroblast pathogenicity in rheumatoid arthritis., Frontiers in medicine, 10, 2023, p1029021 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Jenkins, B.J. and Blagih, J. and Ponce-Garcia, F.M. and Canavan, M. and Gudgeon, N. and Eastham, S. and Hill, D. and Hanlon, M.M. and Ma, E.H. and Bishop, E.L. and Rees, A. and Cronin, J.G. and Jury, E.C. and Dimeloe, S.K. and Veale, D.J. and Thornton, C.A. and Vousden, K.H. and Finlay, D.K. and Fearon, U. and Jones, G.W. and Sinclair, L.V. and Vincent, E.E. and Jones, N., Canagliflozin impairs T cell effector function via metabolic suppression in autoimmunity, Cell Metabolism, 35, (7), 2023, p1132-1146.e9 , Notes: [cited By 18], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Marzaioli V, Canavan M, Floudas A, Flynn K, Mullan R, Veale DJ, Fearon U., CD209/CD14+ Dendritic Cells Characterization in Rheumatoid and Psoriatic Arthritis Patients: Activation, Synovial Infiltration, and Therapeutic Targeting., Frontiers in Immunology, 2022, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Floudas A, Smith CM, Tynan O, Neto N, Krishna V, Wade SM, Hanlon M, Cunningham C, Marzaioli V, Canavan M, Fletcher JM, Mullan RH, Cole S, Hao LY, Monaghan MG, Nagpal S, Veale DJ, Fearon U., Distinct stromal and immune cell interactions shape the pathogenesis of rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis., Annals of the rheumatic diseases, 2022, pannrheumdis-2021-221761 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Viviana Marzaioli, Mary Canavan, Alex Donnolly, Siobhan Wade, Alexander Fraser, Tim O'Sullivan, Sinead Harney, Arthritis Ireland, Douglas J. Veale, Ursula Fearon, Knowledge of disease, diagnosis, adherence and impact of research in an Irish cohort of patients with inflammatory arthritis, HRB Open Research, 4, 2021, p60 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Canavan M, Marzaioli V, Bhargava V, Nagpal S, Gallagher P, Hurson C, Mullan R, Veale DJ, Fearon U, Functionally Mature CD1c+ Dendritic Cells Preferentially Accumulate in the Inflammatory Arthritis Synovium., Frontiers in immunology, 2021, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Hanlon MM, Canavan M, Barker BE, Fearon U., Metabolites as drivers and targets in Rheumatoid Arthritis., Clinical and experimental immunology, 2021, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Floudas A, Neto N, Orr C, Canavan M, Gallagher P, Hurson C, Monaghan MG, Nagpar S, Mullan RH, Veale DJ, Fearon U., Loss of balance between protective and pro-inflammatory synovial tissue T-cell polyfunctionality predates clinical onset of rheumatoid arthritis., Annals of the rheumatic diseases, 2021, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Floudas A, Canavan M, McGarry T, Mullan R, Nagpal S, Veale DJ, Fearon U., ACPA Status Correlates with Differential Immune Profile in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Cells, ;10(3):, (64), 2021, pdoi: 10.33-, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Canavan M, Wade SM, Veale DJ, Fearon U, Response to: 'Polyfunctional TEM cells in psoriatic arthritis synovium skewed towards Th17 cells' by Raychaudhuri et al., Annals of the rheumatic diseases, 2020, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
  

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Research Interests

Description Of Research Interests

Since starting my independent research group in 2022 and being appointed as an Assistant Professor, I have secured over 1.7million euro in research funding from competitive funding bodies such as Irish Research Council, Health Research Board and Science Foundation Ireland. This funding was awarded via a variety of peer reviewed schemes, and I believe is strong evidence in support of my research trajectory to date. My research aims to examine how the immune system mistakenly attacks and damages healthy cells and tissues in autoimmune disease. Over the last 3 years I have successfully developed a novel immunopathology research programme encompassing researchers and clinicians across multiple academic and hospital sites " specifically Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI), Trinity Translational Medicine Institute (TTMI), St James Hospital and St" Vincent"s University Hospital. This research programme involves examination of immune cell dysfunction in blood and tissues from patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Giant Cell Arteritis, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. The group now consists of 4 PhD students " 3 in which I am the sole supervisor and an additional PhD in which I co-supervisor, 1 postdoctoral researcher and additional funding in place to employ and additional postdoctoral researcher, 1 part time research assistant and a fulltime translational research coordinator who is responsible for patient recruitment, consent and biospecimen collection. I have published 30 publications to date with a H index of 24. Specifically, since the establishment of our translational research programme we have published 1 senior author paper, and co-authored 4 additional manuscripts. At present we have an additional co-authored manuscript accepted in Science Advances with a further senior author publication submitted to the British Society of Immunology respected research journal Discover Immunology. I believe that the metrics provided above are demonstratable of my upward career trajectory and are representative of achievements of an Associate Professor rank.