DONOHOE Owen

1er logisticien de recherche

DONOHOE Owen

Faculté de Médecine vétérinaire
Département des maladies infectieuses et parasitaires (DMI)
FARAH: Santé publique vétérinaire

ULiège address
Bât. B43BIS Département des maladies infectieuses et parasitaires (DMI)
Quartier Vallée 2
avenue de Cureghem 10
4000 Liège 1
Belgique
ULiège phone number
+32 4 3664379
ULiège Fax
+32 4 3664261
Email
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Biography

Originally form Ireland, Owen moved Belgium in 2018 to join ULiège on a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2021 he obtained a permanent position in the university as a Research Logistician for the new Aqua-Platform and in 2023 he joined the board of the Belgian Society for Virology

Owen's expertise lies primarily in the field of virology, (specifically herpesviruses), RNA-interference mechanisms, molecular biology and bioinformatics. Since joining ULiège in 2018, he has engaged in research into, RNA-based innate immune stimulation to aid vaccine design, viral and host transcriptomics, and host immune response pathway network analysis, viral genome assembly, viral evolutionary analysis, nature conservation, and fundamental virology.  

After graduation from Dublin City University (DCU) in 2008 (BSc. in Genetics and Cell Biology), he joined the Marine Institute, Galway where he gained over 4 years experience in infectious disease surveillance in the aquaculture sector and in wild habitats. 

While in the Marine Institute, he also did a PhD. through the MI Research Fellowship Program. As part of this he registered with DCU in 2009 under the supervision of Dr. Dermot Walls (DCU), Dr. Kathy Henshilwood (MI) and Dr. Keith Way (Cefas) and graduated in 2013. His PhD project involved an investigation into the existence of Cyprinid Herpesvirus-3 (CyHV-3) encoded microRNAs (miRNAs). 

After this he joined the Molecular Diagnostic Research Group in the University of Galway under Prof. Terry Smith on the development of point of care diagnostic device for breast cancer. In 2014, he joined Elanco (part of the Eli Lilly Group), a vaccine biotech company in then based in Sligo, where he worked in both QC and Process Development. As part of this position, he carried out routine QC in-process, release, and stability testing, test method validation, tech-transfer to CROs and subsequent on-site training of CRO staff. As part of Process Development Lab activities, he also contributed to production process validation work packages related to the introduction of new mycoplasma and influenza vaccines. He was also responsible for generating experimental data on vaccine dose-response studies in guinea pigs.

In 2017, he joined Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT now known as Technological university of the Shannon or TUS), as Post-Doctoral Research Officer. Here he managed a diverse scientific platforms within the Bioscience Research Institute (BRI), Materials Research Institute (MRI) working closely with Prof. Neil Rowan and Dr. Decan Devine.

At the end of his Marie Curie Fellowship (2018-2020) in ULiège with Prof. Alain Vanderplasschen, he was offered another one-year post doctorate fellowship at the university. Later in 2021 he gained a permanent position in ULiège as Research Logistician for the new €7.7 million research facility referred to as the Aqua-Platform. This major piece of university infrastructure will be an of an interdisciplinary, integrated, state of the art research center dedicated to freshwater aquaculture and virology, microbiology and fundamental biology based on fish models (pathogen host interaction, vertebrate innate and adaptive immunity, developmental biology, behavioral biology, ecology). This will be a remarkably large platform (1,500m2 of research space and 200m2 of communal space).Its facilities will include a sizable Class II biosafety wing, which will put the university in a strong position to continue the study of current and emerging viruses impacting freshwater ecosystems and aquaculture industry. It will also include sizable specific-pathogen-free, zebrafish and applied aquaculture facilities (including outdoor mesocosm facilities) ensuring we have capacity to engage in research relevant to societal challenges and EU priority research areas over the next decade.