Rate My Professor Justin McCarthy

Professor Justin McCarthy serves as Head of School and Associate Professor in the School of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at University College Cork. He earned a BSc (Hons) in Science from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, in 1992, and a PhD from University College Cork in 1996, where his thesis examined the biochemistry and cell biology of apoptosis in promyelocytic leukaemia cells. After completing his doctorate, McCarthy held postdoctoral fellowships in the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, from 1996 to 1997 under the supervision of Dr. Vishva Dixit, followed by a position in the Department of Molecular Oncology at Genentech in South San Francisco from 1997 to 1998. He then progressed through leadership roles at Scios Inc., part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies. Starting as Group Leader in the Alzheimer's Disease Research Division in 1998, he advanced to Project Leader in 1999 and Senior Scientist and Group Leader from 2000 to 2002. In these capacities, he oversaw scientific management of a research group focused on therapeutic targets for Alzheimer's disease and participated in the drug discovery steering committee in collaboration with Eli Lilly & Co. for characterizing small molecule inhibitors.

Returning to academia in 2002 as a Lecturer in the School of Biochemistry & Cell Biology at University College Cork, McCarthy was appointed Director of Biotechnology in 2004, Senior Lecturer from 2012 to 2020, and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies for the College of Science, Engineering & Food Science from 2017 to 2020. His research delineates the physiological importance of presenilin proteins in neurodegeneration, extending to cancer and immune surveillance. He characterizes presenilin-mediated gamma-secretase activity and its roles in Alzheimer's disease and signalling events, identifies presenilin-interacting proteins and novel gamma-secretase substrates, studies post-translational modifications of presenilins, and explores therapeutic inhibition of gamma-secretase activity. Key publications encompass 'In Silico Identification of Potential Phosphorylation in the Cytoplasmic Domain of Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule' (ACS Omega, 2020), 'Regulated intramembrane proteolysis, innate immunity and therapeutic targets in Alzheimers disease' (AIMS Molecular Science, 2016), 'Secretase Activity Is Required for Regulated Intramembrane Proteolysis of Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) Receptor 1 and TNF-mediated Pro-apoptotic Signaling' (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2016), 'A ubiquitin-binding CUE domain in presenilin-1 enables interaction with K63-linked polyubiquitin chains' (FEBS Letters, 2015), and 'Loss of Presenilin 2 Function Is Associated with Defective LPS-Mediated Innate Immune Responsiveness' (Molecular Neurobiology, 2015).