On April 14, 2023, the CRCHUM Interdisciplinary Conference will host Ciaran Murphy-Royal, a researcher in the Cardiometabolic Research Theme and Assistant professor at the Neurosciences department of the Université de Montréal

In this seminar, Professor Ciaran Murphy-Royal will present an overview of the ongoing projects in his lab. Our research focuses on the impact of stress on the brain and how this influences behaviour. We focus specifically on the contribution of a type of non-neuronal brain cell, the astrocyte, and how stress signalling in astrocytes is a key mediator of the central stress response. To do this we use transgenic mice, as well as electrophysiological, imaging, and biochemical approaches.

Ciaran Murphy-Royal did his undergraduate studies in Human Physiology at Trinity College Dublin. Then he carried out his graduate studies at the Université de Bordeaux under co-supervision of Drs Stéphane Oliet and Laurent Groc investingating the role of astrocytes in controlling neurotransmitter clearance at the synaptic cleft. He then moved to Calgary to carry out his postdoctoral research in both Drs Jaideep Bains and Grant Gordon’s labs investigating the impact of acute stress on astrocyte network function and the impact on synaptic function. In June 2020, Ciaran Murphy-Royal started his lab at the CRCHUM, with a strong focus on how early experience of adversity can have lifelong consequences, via astrocyte dysfunction.

The goal of the Interdisciplinary conferences is to allow you to learn more about the work of our researchers and to encourage collaborations among the Research Centre’s different Research Themes.

They are intended for the entire scientific community of the CRCHUM and are offered two to three times per month.