Our Research Group
“I beg you, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves, as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Do not search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer. ”
O’Reilly Group, March 2024.
Marianne Bore Haarr
Marianne joined the group in March 2022, having completed her PhD in organic chemistry at the University of Stavanger, Norway. Her PhD included the synthesis of iminosugars. She also has experience in biocatalysis from her stay as a visiting student in the Vincent group at the University of Oxford. Her projects involve the development of biocatalytic routes to therapeutic iminosugars and other alkaloids.
Adam O’Connell (PhD Student)
Adam joined the group in September 2020, having completed his undergraduate degree at Technological University Dublin. His project aims to develop biocatalytic cascades, employing designer enzymes, for the conversion of simple monosaccharides to pharmaceutically important iminosugars.
Kathryn Yeow (PhD Student)
Kathryn completed a B.A.(mod) Chemistry degree at Trinity College Dublin and joined the O'Reilly group in September 2020. Her research aims to identify and engineer enzymes capable of selective oxidations, allowing the synthesis of high-value compound libraries from cheap raw materials.
Amber Barry (PhD Student)
Amber Barry completed her BSc in Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology at University College Dublin and joined the O’Reilly group in September 2021. Her research focuses on the development of convergent biocatalytic transformations, employing enzyme-triggered Mannich reactions for the synthesis of complex alkaloids.
Aoife Martin (PhD Student)
Aoife completed her BSc in Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology in University College Dublin. She carried out her Final Year Project with the O'Reilly group before joining as a PhD student in September 2021. Her research focuses on the development of biocatalytic cascades, employing transaminase mediated aza-Michael chemistry for the synthesis of complex alkaloids.
Adam Fanning (PhD Student)
Adam completed his BSc in Analytical Chemistry (Environmental, Forensic & Pharmaceutical) in TU Dublin and joined the O’Reilly group in September 2024. His project aims to transform Binding Proteins into catalysts for late-stage functionalisation of natural products
Craig Chamney (PhD Student)
Craig completed his BSc in Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology at University College Dublin. He joined as a PhD student in October 2024 after carrying out his Final Year Project with the O'Reilly group. His research aims to exploit pre-existing binding energy of target substrates with proteins, for the development of new multifunctional enzymes for synthetic cascade reactions.