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APC Microbiome Ireland welcomes Professor Michael Sack as new Group Leader
APC Microbiome Ireland at University College Cork (UCC) is pleased to welcome Professor Michael N. Sack as its newest Group Leader, bringing extensive international experience in cardiovascular medicine, clinical research, metabolism and immunology to the APC community.
Professor Sack joined UCC in July 2026 as Professor of Clinical Trials and Director of the HRB Clinical Research Facility. Before moving to Cork, he served as Chief of the Cardiovascular Division and Head of the Laboratory of Mitochondrial Biology and Metabolism at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland.
His translational research explores how metabolic processes influence immune cell function and inflammation in diseases associated with cardiovascular risk. A particular focus of his work has been understanding how nutritional interventions affect systemic inflammation and the biological pathways involved in cardiovascular and metabolic health.
Professor Sack has authored or co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and expert reviews spanning cardiovascular medicine, mitochondrial biology, immunometabolism and immunity. He is also an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians.
His appointment as an APC Group Leader will strengthen connections between APC’s expertise in food, microbiome and health and UCC’s clinical and translational research capabilities.
Professor Michael Sack said:
I am honoured to be given this opportunity to join APC Microbiome Ireland. The world class investigators and impact of the research from APC Microbiome Ireland and in the Food Sciences arena were major reasons why I accepted this position at UCC.
I am looking forward to establishing collaborations to advance our understanding of how nutrition and the gut microbiome contribute to the role of immunity in disease pathophysiology. Moreover, I expect that these scientific discoveries can be harnessed to develop and test nutritional interventions in healthy individuals, in research participants during aging, and with different diseases.
Connecting clinical research and discovery science
Professor Sack uses a “bedside-to-bench” approach to research. This starts with observations and questions arising from patients or clinical studies and investigates the molecular and biological mechanisms that may explain them.
He has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on more than a dozen academic clinical studies and has extensive experience in clinical protocol development and research oversight across observational and interventional studies.
His current research interests include understanding the role of immunometabolism in heart failure, examining how dietary interventions can influence immunity and cardiovascular risk, and exploring how immune changes during the menopause transition may contribute to cardiovascular risk.
These interests create opportunities for collaboration across APC in areas including nutrition, metabolism, immune function, inflammation and the microbiome.
Professor Paul Ross, Director, APC Microbiome Ireland said:
We are delighted to welcome Michael to APC as a Group Leader. His experience across clinical medicine, clinical trials and fundamental research adds an important dimension to the APC community.
His research on nutrition, metabolism, immunity and cardiovascular health connects strongly with several areas of research across APC. His extensive experience in translating questions arising from clinical studies into mechanistic research will also create new opportunities to connect our fundamental science with human research.
Professor Sack is affiliated with UCC Futures: Future Medicines and UCC Futures: Food, Microbiome and Health. Through his leadership role at the HRB Clinical Research Facility, he also supports the development and mentoring of clinician-scientists and researchers working across clinical and translational research.
His addition to APC’s Group Leader community broadens the clinical and scientific expertise within APC and creates further opportunities to connect microbiome research with nutrition, metabolism, immunity and cardiovascular health.
