Research output per year
Research output per year
Research activity per year
Molly O’Reilly – Curriculum Vitae
Education
2014 - 2018 – University of Sussex – Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Neuroscience
2011 - 2014 – University of Sussex – BSc. (Hons.) Neuroscience with Cognitive Science - First class
2003 - 2010 – King Edwards VI Grammar School, Birmingham
A-level: Biology (A*), Physics (B), Psychology (A), General Studies (B)
Professional experience
01/01/2022 – Present Academic Medical Centre Hartstichting and ZonMw Research Fellow
As a Hartstichting and ZonMw Research Fellow, I primarily use electrophysiology and microscopy techniques to investigate the contribution of neuronal dysfunction to cardiac arrhythmia conditions.
01/10/2018 – 30/11/2021 University of Birmingham Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
As a British Heart Foundation (BHF) Research Fellow, I used electrophysiological techniques to investigate the underlying ionic basis of cardiac arrhythmias caused by genetic abnormalities or environmental stressors.
21/09/2014 – 21/08/2018 University of Sussex Doctoral Tutor
Employed as a Doctoral Tutor throughout the course of my PhD, I completed over 200 hours of teaching alongside marking. Those I taught ranged in experience from undergraduates to MSc students.
Publications (h-index 9, i10-index 9, citations 242) - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Molly-OReilly
O’Reilly M, Derudas M, Kirkwood N, et al. (2023). Charge and lipophilicity are required for effective block of the hair-cell mechano-electrical transducer channel by FM1-43 and its derivatives. Front. Cell Dev. Biol., 11
O’Reilly M, Sommerfeld L, O’Shea C, et al. (2022). Familial atrial fibrillation mutation M1875T-SCN5A increases early sodium current and dampens the effect of flecainide. EP Europace, euac218.
Al-Maswary A, O’Reilly M, Holmes A, et al. (2022) Neurogenic modulation of dental pulp stem cells through activating MAPK signalling pathway. PLoS One;17(11):e0277134.
Sommerfeld L, Holmes A, Yu T… O’Reilly M, et al. (2022). Male sex hormone and reduced plakoglobin jointly impair atrial conduction and cardiac sodium currents. bioRxiv 2022.06.03.494748.
O’Shea C, Winter J, Kabir S, O’Reilly M, et al. (2022). High-resolution optical mapping of cardiac electrophysiology in pre-clinical models. Sci Data 9, 135.
O’Brien S, Holmes A, Johnson D, O’Shea C, O’Reilly M, et al. (2022). Increased Atrial Selectivity of Flecainide Conferred by Reduced Atrial Sodium Currents. J Mol Cell Cardiol; 166:23-35.
Kunzel S, Hoffman M, Weber S… O’Reilly M, et al. (2021). Diminished PLK2 Induces Cardiac Fibrosis and Promotes Atrial Fibrillation. Circ Res; 129(8):804-820. International collaboration.
Holmes A, Saxena P, Kabir S… O’Reilly M, et al. (2021). The atrial resting membrane potential confers sodium current sensitivity to propafenone, flecainide and dronedarone. Heart Rhythm; 18(7):1212-1220.
Obergassel J, O’Reilly M, Sommerfeld L, et al. (2021). Effects of genetic background, sex and age on murine atrial electrophysiology. Europace; 19: euaa369.
O’Reilly M, Young L, Kirkwood N, et al. (2019). Gentamicin Affects Bioenergetics of Isolated Mitochondria and Collapses the Mitochondrial Membrane Potential in Cochlear Sensory Hair Cells. Front. Cell. Neurosci. 13:416.
O'Reilly M, Kirkwood N, Kenyon E, et al. (2019). Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of a new series of carvedilol derivatives that protect sensory hair cells from aminoglycoside-induced damage by blocking the mechano-electrical transducer channel. J. Med. Chem. 62(11):5312-5329.
Jeong M, O'Reilly M, Kirkwood N, et al. (2018). Generating inner ear organoids containing putative cochlear hair cells from human pluripotent stem cells. Cell Death & Disease. 922(9). 2041-4889.
Kenyon E, Kirkwood N, Kitcher S, O'Reilly M, et al. (2017). Identification of ion-channel modulators that protect against aminoglycoside-induced hair cell death. JCI Insight. 2:96773.
Kirkwood N, O’Reilly M, Derudas M, et al. (2017). d-Tubocurarine and berbamine: alkaloids that are permeant blockers of the hair cell’s mechano-electrical transducer channel and protect from aminoglycoside toxicity. Front. Cell. Neurosci. 11:262.
Publications under review/in preparation
Reyat J, O’Reilly M, Cardoso V, et al. PITX2 deficiency in iPSC derived atrial cardiomyocytes reveals an arrhythmogenic phenotype. (under review Basic Research in Cardiology)
Sommerfeld LC, Holmes AP, Yu TY… O’Reilly M, et al. (2022). Male sex hormone and reduced plakoglobin jointly impair atrial conduction and cardiac sodium currents. (under review JCI insight)
O’Reilly M, O’Shea C, Wells S, et al. Succinate and Exposure to Hypoxia-Reoxygenation cause similar Pro-Arrhythmic Modifications in Left Atrial Electrophysiology. (in preparation)
Prizes and Awards
Vector Labs Science Photography Competition finalist (20/01/2018) and winner (20/01/2019)
Sussex University Research Image Competition Exhibition winner – 16/06/2018
Don Henderson PhD Award – 12/02/2018
University of Sussex PhD Prize runner-up – 08/12/2017
Personal funding
ZonMw Off-Road Grant - €100.000 – July 2022
Dutch Heart Foundation Dekker Grant - €280.000 – July 2022
Amsterdam UMC Postdoc Career Bridging Grant - €105.000 – March 2022
Erasmus+ staff mobility award - €1,300 – November 2021
British Heart Foundation (BHF) Accelerator Award - £8,500 – May 2021
European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Basic Research Fellowship - €25,000 – February 2021
Medical Intercalation Student Project proposals - £4,200 – September 2020
Research Development Fund Award - £4,800 – February 2020
During my PhD I presented at 8 conferences and independently secured external funding towards the cost of attendance, from at least one source on every occasion. The funding bodies that provided Travel Awards were:
Invited oral presentations
‘Unravelling the role of autonomic nervous system dysfunction in inherited arrhythmia syndromes’
‘Succinate and exposure to hypoxia-reoxygenation cause similar pro-arrhythmic modifications in left atrial electrophysiology’
‘The SCN5A point mutation M1875T, associated with familial atrial fibrillation, causes a gain-of-function effect of the cardiac Nav1.5 channel in atrial cardiomyocytes’
– European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) congress, 24/04/2021
‘The Effects of Hypoxia and Reoxygenation on Cardiac Electrophysiology’
– Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences Away Day, 03/05/2019
‘XE 991, a KV7 channel blocker, acts as an otoprotectant in vitro’
– British Neuroscience Association (BNA) Festival of Neuroscience, 10/04/2017
Teaching and Supervising
Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA), 01/06/2016.
Extracurricular
Professional Society Memberships
Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy; Affiliate member of the Physiological Society; European Society of Cardiology; European Working Group of Cellular Cardiac Electrophysiology.
Academic Citizenship
Reviewer for: The Journal of Pharmacological and Experimental Therapeutics; The Journal of Membrane Biology; The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging; Heart Rhythm; iScience.
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review