Gemma Deegan Email & Phone Number

United Kingdom

London, United Kingdom

London, England, United Kingdom

PhD Student at King's College London investigating brain activity and sleep disturbances in prodromal Parkinson's disease, as part of the Medical Research Council, Doctoral Training Partnership (MRC DTP) program.

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Research Assistant in the lab of Dr Marian Tsanov working on rodent models of Parkinson's Disease to address motor and cognitive symptoms using gene therapy and optogenetics. The project I am working on aims to access the progression of memory impairment compared to the motor symptoms, explore the effect of RNA-based gene therapy on the memory formation and spatial navigation, and establish whether septal optogenetic stimulation will induce memory augmentation.

San Diego, California

As part of my employment at Neurophotometrics I travelled to labs across North America to set-up and instruct lab members on the functionality of the fiber photometry system, how to use it optimally, and how to apply it to answer their particular research questions. This involved working with PIs and students to carry out their experimental behavioural paradigm using rodent models, while also integrating the fiber photometry system. I advised the researchers on best practices for using the system, how to set up their software workflow, and instructed them on how to analyse their data post-hoc using the Matlab programming language. I also consulted with them on fiber-optic cannula implantation procedures, intraoperative fiber photometry recordings and suitable viral and fluorophore options for their needs. I also represented Neurophotometrics as an exhibitor at the 2019 Society for Neuroscience (SfN) conference in Chicago. This involved advising researchers on how the Neurophotometrics system may suit their needs, as well as explaining the technique to researchers and students that were not as familiar with fiber photometry/optogenetics. Furthermore, I was involved in the engineering and development of a new, 2nd generation fiber photometry system. This task included designing and 3D-printing parts for the system itself, sourcing and testing materials, cabling, hardware etc., manually building up the system and its sub-assemblies, performing quality control procedures, packaging and shipping the system to customers and trouble-shooting any technical problems (both prior to shipping, and virtually, with the customer). I also assisted with technical support for the first-generation system which again, involved dealing directly with PIs and post-doc/PhD students. These technical support questions ranged from hardware problems, to surgical techniques, to consultation on experimental design, to viral and fluorophore recommendations.

San Diego, California, United States

Swab56 was set up as part of the San Diego Covid Research Enterprise Network, to provide non-sterile, cotton-tipped applicators as an alternative to the nasopharyngeal swabs which were in critically short supply at the time of the Covid outbreak in the US.As a manufacturing lead at Swab56, I established the production protocol for manufacturing swabs, which was implemented by 30+ staff members over the course of the project. I was responsible for training the staff, ensuring they hit production targets and advised them on how to improve their production technique. I was also in charge of determining minimum quality control specifications and trained the quality control staff on what QC violations to be aware of. Finally, I was also tasked with packaging and organising shipments of the final product.As part of my role at Swab56, I also consulted with a mechanical engineer on how to optimise the automation process for producing the swabs. This involved meetings on materials used, methodology for making a swab, quality control and production procedure.

County Dublin, Ireland

Conducted a research project and prepared a thesis document, ‘An interaction map of SETD1A: a protein linked to Schizophrenia’. The aim of this project was to determine the cellular interactors of SETD1A, a histone methyltransferase (epigenetic protein) identified as having a loss of function mutation in some rare forms of schizophrenia (Takata et al, 2014; Singh et al 2016). I employed biochemical procedures, including immunoprecipitation techniques, western blot experiments and mass spectrometry analyses of the SETD1A protein. Furthermore, I used bioinformatic and statistical software, including Perseus and String, to parse through large datasets to determine metabolic processes in which SETD1A could potentially play a part.The results of this project demonstrated that SETD1A had a novel, physical interaction with certain complement proteins (C3, C4A, C4B), as well as nitrogen metabolism proteins. Both of these results are profound, considering that schizophrenia is well documented as being associated with immune irregularities (Muller 2010), and interrupted glutamatergic signalling (glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia). (Note that nitrogen and glutamate metabolism are closely linked. )It is hypothesised that loss of function of the SETD1A methyltransferase negatively impacts downstream immune and glutamate metabolism pathways, which could contribute to the onset of the disease. Although further research is required, SETD1A as a drug target could be a possible avenue for investigation.