ProfKillian Hurley

The overarching theme of my clinical and research work is to better understand the molecular and clinical heterogeneity seen in genetic lung diseases and thereby find better treatments and cure for patients. After completing my PhD in 2013 in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and finishing my clinical training in Dublin I moved to the US to undertake an Academic Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship in Boston University. In 2015, I started my postdoctoral work in the Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) in Boston University under the mentorship of Professor Darrell Kotton. There, I was a key contributor to work leading to the derivation of type 2 alveolar cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), cells which can now be used to model genetic lung diseases including pulmonary fibrosis and alpha-1antitrypsin deficiency (AATD). In 2017 I was awarded the Alpha-1 Foundation’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant for my novel research project employing iPSC to model AATD lung disease.
Currently, I am a consultant physician in Beaumont Hospital where I run a specialised clinic in pulmonary fibrosis. I am a PI in both the Departments of Medicine and the Tissue Engineering Research Group where I lead projects looking to better model genetic lung diseases so as to find new effective treatments.