Dr David Scanlon

Biography

Dr. David Scanlon is a Lecturer in Biology & Biopharmaceutical Science in the Department of Science, WIT.

He completed his PhD in Biochemistry with Professor Paul Engel in University College Dublin in 2007. Prior to that he received his Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from UCD (2003) and a National Certificate in Applied Biology from WIT (2000). After being awarded his PhD, Dr. Scanlon worked in the Development department of Wyeth Biotech (later Pfizer), specialising in downstream processing.

Subsequently he spent 7 years as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and Research Associate with Dr. Mike Salter at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto (aka SickKids). During his tenure at SickKids he ran multiple projects to identify biotherapeutic targets for chronic pain in the CNS, with a particular focus on characterising protein-protein interactions of NMDA and P2X7 receptors.

Dr. Scanlon’s primary research area is the identification and characterization of ion channel complex interactors in the Central Nervous System. He is also interested in the role that mitochondria play in synaptic function and dysfunction, as well as novel biotherapeutics discovery and translational medicine.

He has recently been published in Nature Communications, has given invited lectures in Europe and Canada, and has presented at numerous national and international conferences. Dr. Scanlon has been a key contributor to a number of prestigious grants awarded to the Salter lab by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and maintains ongoing collaborations with a number of labs in Canada.

Dr. Scanlon also has a keen interest in student engagement and training, and was founder and chair of the SickKids Spotlight Seminar Series (promoting cross-disciplinary research within the SickKids Research Institute), and co-chair of the SickKids Summer Research Program (helping to train ~150 undergraduate students in research labs per annum).