Professor Mark Hollywood
Biography
I gained my B.Sc (Hons) in Physiology in 1989 and, following a brief sojourn in Industry, was awarded my PhD in 1994 from Queen's University, Belfast. Following a postdoctoral fellowship, I was recruited to a Lectureship in Physiology at Queen’s University, Belfast in 1995. I obtained a Post-Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching in 1999. I was subsequently promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2001 and in 2005 was recruited, along with my colleagues to form the Smooth Muscle Research Centre (SMRC) at DkIT in Dundalk, Ireland. In 2019, I was made Professor of Molecular Physiology in Dundalk Institute of Technology.
I have supervised/co-supervised in excess of 20 MD/MCh/PhD students to completion and currently supervise 3 PhD students (Ms Zainab Baig, Mr Neeraj Palakurthy & Mr Shubhendu Shirgadwar).
Teaching
BSc in Pharmaceutical Science
BSc in Veterinary Nursing
BSc (Hons) in Biopharmaceutical Science (Add-On)
Qualifications & Awards
Qualifications
1986 - 1989 B.Sc (Hons) in Physiology, Queen's University of Belfast
1991 - 1994 PhD in Smooth Muscle Physiology, Queen's University of Belfast.
1997 - 1999 Post-Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching, Queen's University of Belfast.
Awards & Honours
2000 - 2005 Honorary Lecturer in Cellular Physiology, University of Manchester (UK)
2005 - 2010 Honorary Senior Lecturer in Physiology, Queens University of Belfast.
2015 - 2015 Conway Review Lecturer & Medal Recipient, Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.
2016 - 2016 President's Award for Research Achievement, Dundalk Institute of Technology
2023 - 2026 Honorary Visiting Scholar, Queens University of Belfast.
2023 - 2023 Research Ally Award, Irish Research Council, Researcher of the Year Awards.
Recent Invited Lectures
2023 Speaker, Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford, UK.
2025 Invited Speaker, FASEB, Ion Channel Regulation Conference, Massachusetts.
2025 Invited Speaker, Current Trends in Drug Discovery Research, Lucknow, India.
Research & Interests
My research has, since my first post-doc in 1994, focused on ion channels and how they may be characterized and targeted to potentially treat disease. Over the last decade, my work has focused on trying to target large conductance Ca2+ activated K+ (BK) channels and resulted in the design, synthesis, and purification of a novel family of openers called the GoSlo-SR family. In addition, my lab has assessed the SAR of these compounds, identified residues which when mutated, abolished the effects of these compounds and demonstrated their potential mechanism of action.
More recently, my research has uncovered an entirely new role for family of proteins called LINGO which act as regulatory subunits of BK channels (LINGO1 BK subunit paper, LINGO2 oxidation paper, LINGO chimera paper) and have been implicated in the development of Parkinson's Disease and Essential Tremor. Our work on this is currently funded by a Research Ireland grant to us in collaboration with Prof Jochen Prehn in RCSI.
My research has attracted more than €14 million (the majority as PI) in funding from charities (Wellcome Trust, Diabetes UK, MRC), both national (SFI, HRB, EI) and international funding bodies (EU, National Institutes of Health, USA), as well as private companies (Andor Technology, Corcept Therapeutics USA, Axxam, Italy, Pharmomentum, UK). I have published in high impact, peer reviewed journals resulting in >90 papers, >140 conference communications, 1 patent granted, 4 book chapters & a webinar. I have delivered numerous scientific communications to learned societies and have been invited guest speaker at national and international meetings.
Publications
The publications listed below represent my 10 most recent works as recorded on ORCiD
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
6 June 2025
DOI: 10.3390/ijms26125455
Type: Journal article
American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology
1 March 2025
DOI: 10.1152/ajpcell.00980.2024
Type: Journal article
American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology
1 January 2024
DOI: 10.1152/ajpcell.00417.2023
Type: Journal article
Journal of General Physiology
5 June 2023
DOI: 10.1085/jgp.202213237
Type: Journal article
Physiological Reports
November 2022
DOI: 10.14814/phy2.15504
Type: Journal article
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
December 2020
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2016959117
Type: Journal article
The Journal of physiology
October 2020
DOI: 10.1113/jp280807
Type: Journal article
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
January 2020
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1916715117
Type: Journal article
British journal of pharmacology
January 2020
DOI: 10.1111/bph.14910
Type: Journal article
American journal of physiology. Cell physiology
May 2019
DOI: 10.1152/ajpcell.00488.2018
Type: Journal article