CONGRATULATIONS DR SLYNE!

25 Jun 2025

Three cheers for Aoife Slyne who successfully defended her PhD today at University College Cork.

Aoife performed a comprehensive characterisation of respiratory muscle form, function and control across the natural history of disease in the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Her work establishes the trajectory of disease progression, revealing early compensation and temporal deficits, providing novel insights and a key platform for interventional studies. This work will soon feature in The Journal of Physiology.

Aoife spent 6 months with Mai ElMallah at Duke University, USA examining the respiratory efficacy of a novel systemic AAV delivered microdystrophin construct. Gene therapy trials for DMD are currently underway (Sarepta Therapeutics) and it will be crucial to determine the capacity to ameliorate or delay ventilatory insufficiency in DMD.

Sincere thanks to independent chair Dr. Eithne Hunt (Clinical Therapies, UCC) and thesis examiners Niall Hyland (Physiology, UCC) and Matt Fogarty (Mayo Clinic, USA).

It has been an absolute pleasure working with Aoife who has produced high quality important work and has most ably represented the lab presenting her findings across the globe. Continued success into the future...

Aoife was supported by an Eli Lilly and Company doctoral scholarship administered through the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science, UCC Our INSPIRE DMD programme of studies is supported by Research Ireland.