Visitor Spotlight - Dr Reghan Foley

Dr. Reghan Foley is a Fulbright Scholar at UCC . She is a Senior Research Physician based at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland, United States. As a Pediatric Neuromuscular Specialist at the NIH, she sees genetically undiagnosed patients with congenital onset neuromuscular conditions and follows children with congenital myopathies and congenital muscular dystrophies via various natural history studies and clinical trials. Here at UCC, Dr. Foley is working with Professor Deirdre Murray, Paediatric Research Lead, UCC’s INFANT Centre and with Dr. Jane English, Lecturer, UCC’s Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience. Dr. Foley sought out the opportunity to come to UCC given UCC’s research expertise in biomarker discovery and validation in infants and young children. She is studying microRNA and proteomics profiles in serum samples from infants and children with COL6-related dystrophies and LAMA2-related dystrophies collected at the NIH and in serum samples from age-matched healthy control infants and children collected at UCC as part of the Cork BASELINE Birth Cohort.

Dr. Foley writes, “If it were not for my wonderful colleagues here at UCC, who encouraged me to apply for the Fulbright Scholar award and who have been tremendously supportive and collaborative every step of the way, I would not have had this invaluable opportunity to come to UCC to pursue this biomarker research project which is both important and timely for the congenital muscular dystrophy field. Professor Deirdre Murray and Dr. Jane English have made me feel so welcome and have introduced me to the dynamic and innovative research mindset here at UCC. Their expertise and forward-thinking approach have made it possible to pursue this research together and establish a research collaboration between UCC and the National Institutes of Health.”