Biography

Kieran McDermott received a BSc (Hons) in Zoology from University College Cork in 1984.  He obtained an MSc in Experimental Pathology and Toxicology (1985) and a PhD in Developmental Neurobiology (1990) from the University of London.  In 1993 he was appointed Lecturer in the Department of Anatomy at University College, Cork.  He was subsequently appointed Senior Lecturer in Anatomy in 2004 and Acting Head of the Anatomy Department in September 2007. Postdoctoral work in developmental neurobiology, partly funded by a Wellcome Trust Travelling Fellowship, and experimental neuropathology was subsequently undertaken at the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, USA and the Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Cambridge, UK.  Since taking up that appointment he has been instrumental in setting up the BSc (Hons) in Neuroscience at UCC, the first such degree in Ireland. He has continued his research into the developmental origins and lineage determinants of neural cell types and into the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. He is a Principal Investigators in a national consortium comprising UCC, Trinity and UCD researchers entitled ‘Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and the National Neuroscience Network’ which has been funded by the Program for Research at Third Level Cycle 3.  This research group is located in the Anatomy\neuroscience section of Biosciences Institute at UCC. In 2003, together with PhD student Denis Barry, he won the Olympus GIT International Microscopy Award for research on confocal microscopy of intermediate filaments in glia cell of the developing spinal cord.

Research Interests:

Glial cell development in the spinal Cord. Elucidation of spinal cord radial glial cell development and determination of the lineage relationships among different types of glial cells in the spinal cord using using confocal microscopy, time lapse videomicroscopy, morphometry and image analysis. Neural progenitor and stem cell transplantation studies.

These studies focus on glial-neuronal cell interactions in damaged CNS tissse. The experiments aim to analsyse how different glial cell populations and neural stem cells integrate into the developing and damaged CNS following transplantation. These studies will shed further light on the4 potential of cell replacement strategies for treating diseases such as MS, Parkinsons, Alzheimers, Stroke and for repair of spinal cord injuries. Methods used include in vivo transplantation, immunocytochemistry, confocal microscopy, cell proliferation assays, EM, image analysis and morphometry.Glial cells, growth factors and apoptosis in the Parkinson’s disease.

In vitro models for studying glial-neuronal interactions and the effects of growth factors on neurones of the nigrostriatal pathway have been developed. Ongoing studies include co-culturing different glial subtypes with neurones and investigation of the effect of various growth factors on cellular and molecular interactions between the different cells types. Development of bio-chips in which neurones directly interface with novel silicon fabricated devices. This research is part of a collaboration with the NMRC ‘Bionics’ group in which novel approaches to the study of neural networks using ISFET devices miniaturized metal electrode arrays are being investigated.

Recent Publications

Henley B.M. and McDermott, K.W. (2010) The expression of neuroepithelial cell fate determinants in rat spinal cord development. Journal of Molecular Neuroscience (in press).

Gibney, S. and McDermott, K.W.  (2009) Sonic hedgehog promotes the generation of myelin proteins by transplanted oligosphere-derived cells. Journal of Neuroscience Research  (87): 3067-75.

Desbonnet, L., Garrett, G., Daly, E. , McDermott, K.W., and Dinan, T.G. (2008) Sexually dimorphic effects of maternal separation stress on corticotrophin-releasing factor and vasopressin systems in the adult rat brain. International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience  26(3-4):259-68

Gibney, S. and McDermott, K.W.(2007) Generation of oligodendrocyte enriched neurospheres from embryonic rat brain using growth and differentiation factors. Journal of Neuroscience Research. (in press)

McMahon, S.S. and McDermott, K.W. (2007) Developmental potential of radial glia investigated by transplantation into the developing rat ventricular system in utero. Experimental Neurology 203(1), January 2007,128-136

McMahon, S.S. and McDermott, K.W. (2006) A comparison of cell transplantation and retroviral gene transfection as tools to study lineage and differentiation in the rat spinal cord.Journal of Neuroscience Methods.152, 243-249.

McDermott, K.W., Barry, D.S. and McMahon, S.S. (2005) Role of radial glia in cytogenesis, patterning and boundary formation in the developing spinal cord. The Journal of Anatomy 207, 241-250

Wood , T.K. McDermott, K.W. and Sullivan, A.M. (2005) Differential effects of growth/differentiation factor 5 and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor on dopaminergic neurons and astroglia in cultures of embryonic rat midbrain.Journal of Neuroscience Research 80 (6):759-766

Barry, D and McDermott K.W.(2005) Differentiation of radial glia from radial precursor cells transformation into astrocytes in the developing the spinal cord.Glia 50 (3):187-197.

Lane S., McDermott K.W., Dockery P. & Fraher J. (2004) The developing cervical spinal ventral commissure of the rat: A highly controlled axon-glial system. Journal of Neurocytology 33:489-501

McMahon, S.S., Dockery, P. and McDermott. K.W. (2003) Estimation of nuclear volume as an indicator of maturation of glial precursor cells in the developing rat spinal cord: a stereological approach. Journal of Anatomy 203: 339-344.