Sally Cudmore (Biology)
Sally Cudmore |
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Dr. Sally Cudmore is currently General Manager of the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (APC), a research centre investigating the influence of the gastrointestinal microbiota on both health and disease. The APC is headquartered in University College Cork (UCC), Ireland, and is comprised of four research partners - UCC, the Biotechnology Centre at Teagasc Moorepark, Alimentary Health Ltd (a start-up biotech company) and GlaxoSmithKline (a multinational pharmaceutical company). The APC has received over €32 million in funding since its foundation in 2003.
Sally completed a degree in biochemistry at University College Cork in 1992. She then carried out her PhD at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, in the Cell Biology Unit, investigating the assembly and motility of vaccinia virus, under the supervision of Drs Gareth Griffiths and Michael Way. Following a short postdoctoral period at EMBL, she moved to the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) at the start of 1997, where she conducted postdoctoral research on the cytoskeleton with Profs Tim Mitchison and Ron Vale. She was awarded postdoctoral fellowships by EMBO and the Human Frontiers Science Programme (HFSP) to carry out this research.
In 1999 Sally returned to Ireland where she took up a position in the pharmaceutical industry in the research division of Elan Pharmaceuticals in Dublin. She worked there as Group Leader of the Cell Biology Group. She was also the Project Leader on a gene delivery project, a joint venture with a biotechnology company from Seattle, called Targeted Genetics. During this time she also completed an MSc in Technology Management at the Smurfit Business School in University College Dublin. In 2002 she moved back to her alma mater, UCC, initially as Manager of the newly built BioSciences Institute. She moved to her current position as General Manager of the APC when it was founded in September 2003.
In addition to her role of managing the APC, Sally is very involved in Education and Outreach activities to the general public and local schools, in order to encourage young people to consider careers in science.