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Professor Cormac Taylor
Cormac Taylor grew up in Templeogue on the outskirts of Dublin and attended Colaiste Eanna Christian Brothers secondary school in Rathfarnham. While his interest in secondary school was mostly in sports, English, maths and physics, upon entering UCD for his undergraduate science degree, he pivoted and rapidly developed a keen interest in the biological sciences, particularly pharmacology. He developed a deep interest in the mechanisms by which drugs affect biological systems for therapeutic benefit. He majored in Pharmacology with a (opens in a new window)B.Sc. (Hons) in 1992. After obtaining his PhD in Pharmacology from UCD in 1996 where he was fortunate to study in the outstanding Pharmacology Department in Merville, Prof. Taylor travelled to the USA. He carried out a postdoctoral fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School between 1996 and 2001 under the Mentorship of Prof. Sean Colgan where he focussed on therapeutic approaches to Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). In 2001, he returned to Ireland and established his own research group focussing on the impact of oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) on cells in health and disease. Establishing his own research group in 2001, he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2006 and Full Professor of Cellular Physiology in 2014. He currently runs a research team of three PhD students and 2 postdoctoral fellows in the Conway Institute on the UCD Belfield Campus.
Academic background.
Cormac Taylor grew up in Templeogue on the outskirts of Dublin and attended Colaiste Eanna Christian Brothers secondary school in Rathfarnham. While his interest in secondary school was mostly in sports, English, maths and physics, upon entering UCD for his undergraduate science degree, he pivoted and rapidly developed a keen interest in the biological sciences, particularly pharmacology. He developed a deep interest in the mechanisms by which drugs affect biological systems for therapeutic benefit. He majored in Pharmacology with a (opens in a new window)B.Sc. (Hons) in 1992. After obtaining his PhD in Pharmacology from UCD in 1996 where he was fortunate to study in the outstanding Pharmacology Department in Merville, Prof. Taylor travelled to the USA. He carried out a postdoctoral fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School between 1996 and 2001 under the Mentorship of Prof. Sean Colgan where he focussed on therapeutic approaches to Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). In 2001, he returned to Ireland and established his own research group focussing on the impact of oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) on cells in health and disease. Establishing his own research group in 2001, he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2006 and Full Professor of Cellular Physiology in 2014. He currently runs a research team of three PhD students and 2 postdoctoral fellows in the Conway Institute on the UCD Belfield Campus.
Current Research Challenges
The way in which the cells generate energy through metabolism has a great impact on the way our tissues, organs and bodies function both in health and in disease. Glycolysis is the name given to the process by which our cells break down sugar (glucose) in the process of making cellular energy in the form of ATP, an essential molecule for life. Glycolysis is therefore fundamental to our cellular metabolism. Glycolysis can also play an important role in cancer growth and development through a process known as The Warburg Effect where cancer cells become addicted to glucose. Therefore understanding glycolysis and glucose metabolism is of fundamental importance and in need of further research to fully understand it. When cells are exposed to low oxygen (hypoxia), cells undergo a metabolic switch to increased glycolysis for the production of ATP. In Professor Taylors lab, they are investigating how this process is regulated with the aim of developing new treatments for diseases. While this increased flux through the glycolytic pathway drives metabolic adaptation in hypoxia, it also has important implications for cell behaviour, phenotype and fate. Understanding of the mechanisms controlling glycolysis in hypoxia is key to a range of physiologic and pathophysiologic processes including inflammatory bowel disease and cancer.
The Researcher
The Taylor lab in UCD focuses on a new approach to the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease using a class of drugs termed hydroxylase inhibitors which activate pathways that protect cells from oxygen deprivation. Prof Taylor has published over 120 manuscripts and successfully supervised 22 PhD students to completion as primary supervisor. He has also mentored over 30 postdoctoral fellows and faculty. Prof. Taylor was elected as a fellow to the Royal Irish Academy in 2013, Ireland’s highest academic honour. He won the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland Biomedical Sciences Paper of the Year Award in both 2022 and 2024. He was awarded the Nature mid-career Mentorship Award in 2014. He believes that a key aspect of his job is the mentoring of young science and medical students in UCD both from an academic and professional perspective. In 2017, he was the first non-US researcher to be awarded the Takeda Distinguished Research Award from the American Physiological Society. Prof Taylor is a passionate advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). As well as being Associate Dean for Research in the School of Medicine, he is a UCD Dignity and Respect support colleague who is a first contact for people who are subject to bullying or sexual harassment. He is also a founding co-chair of the UCD Engaging men in EDI working group which aims at increasing male participation in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives in the University. Cormac Taylor is a part of the musical duo Taylor and Frey who released their first album Pale Blue on Spotify. He is currently completing a book “Voices of Others” which celebrates the achievements of LGBT scientists of the past and present.
Future Research Aspirations
The future aspirations of the Taylor lab are based around developing the understanding of the regulation of glucose metabolism under conditions of hypoxia with an aim to identify new windows of therapeutic opportunity in diseases including (but not limited to) inflammatory bowel disease and cancer. One key area of research progress which has taken place in recent years is our developing understanding of the complex interplay between metabolism, immunity and cancer and how harnessing the immune system may be of great benefit in future cancer therapeutics (immuno-oncology). As we develop our understanding of how factors such as hypoxia (which is associated with solid tumors) regulates metabolism we may be able to identify a metabolic Achilles heel in cancer cells which can be manipulated for patient benefit. On a mentorship level, Prof Taylor sees that a major part of his role in the latter part of his career is in the mentorship of younger scientists and the protection of the rights of minority scientists so that they have the same opportunities as everybody else to succeed in STEM.
Related Links
(opens in a new window)UCD Profile