APC News
New Director For APC Microbiome Ireland
New Director For APC Microbiome Ireland
Prof Paul Ross Appointed As New Director Of APC Microbiome Ireland
APC Microbiome Ireland is delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Paul Ross as Director, following an extensive international search process by University College Cork.
“Microbiome science is now transforming most areas of biology and APC Microbiome Ireland is tackling some of the greatest challenges facing human medicine and food production including human infection and particularly the design of microbiome solutions in the fight against antibiotic resistance, inflammation, cardiovascular disease, stress, neurodevelopmental disorders, diseases of age and cancer” said Prof Ross. “I look forward to working with APC’s committed community of researchers and our industry partners to further build on the Centre’s success.”
Paul’s term as Director of the SFI Centre APC Microbiome Ireland at UCC commenced on June 1st to coincide with the start of a new round of funding by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation through Science Foundation Ireland for another 6 years.
Paul has been Deputy Director of APC since 2016 and Principal Investigator in the APC’s Microbes to Molecules Research Spoke since its foundation. Previously, he was Head of College of Science, Engineering & Food Science in UCC (2014-2019). Prior to that he was Head of Food Research at Teagasc and Managing Director of Moorepark Technology Ltd from 2009-2014 and Research Professor in UCC from 2012-2014.
Welcoming the appointment, Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland, said: “I am delighted to welcome Paul to his new role as Director of APC Microbiome Ireland, one of our world-leading SFI Research Centres. His outstanding academic record and existing relationships with industry partners are evidence that he is well placed to build on the success of APC, as well as Ireland’s international reputation for research excellence.”
UCC President, Professor Patrick O’Shea said “this appointment heralds the next exciting phase for APC as a global leader of microbiome science with wide-ranging impacts of immediate relevance for the food and pharmaceutical areas of industry.”
Paul Ross is a UCC graduate with a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Microbiology, and a Ph.D. in Microbiology. His research focuses on novel antimicrobials, including bacteriocins and bacteriophage. He was awarded a D.Sc. in 2009 based on published work. Paul is an author on over 600 peer-reviewed papers in addition to 58 book chapters and 23 patents. He has supervised 61 completed PhD’s and 23 MSc’s. He has received many awards and was designated one of “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” by Thomson Reuters based on citations (2015) and a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics (2017, 2018). He has been an Investigator or Co-investigator on grants totalling more than €130 million since 1994.
