O'Sullivan Lab

Dr Orla O'Sullivan is a Senior Research Officer at Teagasc Food Research Centre, Moorepark, and a Principal Investigator with APC Microbiome Ireland.

Orla’s lab at APC, is currently working on elucidating the microbiome from various environments including human gut and lung, soil, rumen and food. Presently research in the group is funded by 2 large EU grants DOMINO (focus on fermented foods and health) and CoDiet (applying AI technologies to personalised nutrition).

A core theme of Orla’s research is the role of fitness and diet, specifically on the human gut microbiome both in healthy and diseased cohorts. This research has led to collaborations with many sporting bodies including the Irish Rugby Football Union, Cricket Ireland, Sports Ireland and English Premiership teams. Current this are of research is funded by a Research Ireland Frontiers award, Fitbiota, which aims to min the adolescent athlete gut microbiome for clues on a “fit” microbiome.