Research Interests

I am a molecular biologist working on how transcription factors regulate gene expression. This is achieved through a new technique that I developed while at UCD, based on the secreted Gaussia luciferase (Cavadas and Cheong, 2014). This new method, coupled with thermostatiscal analysis and mathematical modelling, has enabled my group to unravel the complex transcriptional crosstalks at the promoter level. I have applied this technique to describe crosstalks between the transcription factors HIF and NFkB during hypoxic inflammation (Bruning et al, 2012) and to construct a comprehensive mathematical model of signalling network of the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) (Nguyen, Cavadas et al, 2013).

Scientific Inspiration

Prof Denis Noble, who developed the first computer model of the heart the 1960s – showing how the electrical activity from ion channels results in the heart beats. This is about using mathematics and biology together to understand how things work or don’t work.