Dr Nicky O’Boyle is an Assistant Professor of Microbiology at Trinity College Dublin. He has been working in the academic research sector since 2008 and has published more than 20 research articles in leading life science journals. His work aims to improve understanding of why and how bacteria make us sick, using this knowledge to make better treatments for infections. His PhD with Dr Aoife Boyd at the University of Galway focused on investigating how Vibrio parahaemolyticus – a leading global cause of shellfish related food poisoning – attaches to the cells of the intestine. He then moved to The University of Glasgow in 2014 where he worked in the laboratory of Dr Robert Davies, developing advanced airway cell culture models to study infection dynamics of the livestock pathogen Mannheimia haemolytica. In 2017, at The University of Glasgow, Dr O’Boyle joined Professor Andrew Roe’s Group where he studied diverse strains of Escherichia coli associated with distinct disease outcomes in humans. His independent research group was established in 2022 at University College Cork before relocating to Trinity College Dublin in 2024. Their work encompasses investigating the fundamental molecular biology of bacterial pathogens, and the development of novel therapeutic strategies to combat bacterial disease. Dr O’Boyle’s group have a strong focus on Gram-negative enteric pathogens including enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, Crohn’s disease-associated pathobionts, and uropathogenic E. coli. His group aim to exploit insights into niche-specific pathogen expression patterns to develop precision anti-virulence strategies.