Dr Niall Byrne

Research Officer

Conjoint/Adjunct Role(s)

Associate Lecturer (Conjoint), St Vincent's Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney

Niall graduated from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland with a First Class Honours in Biomedical Science (with Diploma in Professional Practice) in 2009. He subsequently completed his PhD at the University of Ulster in 2014 in the laboratory of Prof Stephanie McKeown, investigating the role of the tumour microenvironment in the treatment response of prostate tumours. During the course of his PhD Niall developed a keen interest in intravital imaging techniques and the role of tumour hypoxia in malignant progression.

In September 2014 Niall relocated to Sydney to continue his research interests in prostate cancer, joining the laboratory of Prof Peter Croucher and Prof Mike Rogers in the Bone Biology Division at the Garvan Institute. He is currently working as part of the ProMis program, investigating the role of dormant cells in prostate cancer bone metastasis; utilising single cell technologies and intravital imaging techniques. Niall is also a scientific representative for the Young Garvan committee, a member of the the Post Doctoral Development Committee and sits on the organising committee of the St Vincent's Research Symposium.

Research Interests

• Prostate cancer

• Metastasis

• Tumour dormancy

• Intravital imaging

• Tumour Hypoxia

Awards and Honours

2017 - CABS International Conference, Young Investigator Travel Award
2016 - Runner-up Poster Prize winner; St Vincent's Precinct Post-Doctoral Symposium
2012 – Young Investigator Travel Award; Cancer Translational Research Group
2011 – Poster Award; Cancer Translational Research Group Annual Retreat
2010 – Poster Prize; Biochemistry society annual meeting

Education

2014 – PhD, University of Ulster – Northern Ireland
2009 – BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science with DPP, University of Ulster – Northern Ireland

Selected Publications

Nesbitt, H., Byrne, NM., Williams, N., Ming, L., Worthington, J., Errington, RJ., Patterson, LH., Smith, P., McKeown, SR., McKenna, DJ. (2017), Targeting hypoxic prostate tumours using the novel hypoxia-activated prodrug OCT1002 inhibits expression of genes associated with malignant progression. Clin Cancer Res, 23(7):1797-1808. PMID: 27697998

Byrne, NM., Nesbitt, H., Ming, L., McKeown, SR., Worthington, J., McKenna, DJ. (2016), Androgen deprivation in LNCaP prostate tumour xenografts induces vascular changes and hypoxic stress, resulting in promotion of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Br J Cancer, 114(6):659-68. PMID: 26954717

Nesbitt, H., Browne, G., O'Donovan, KM., Byrne, NM., Worthington, J., McKeown, SR., McKenna, DJ.. (2016), Nitric Oxide Up-Regulates RUNX2 in LNCaP Prostate Tumours: Implications for Tumour Growth In Vitro and In Vivo. Journal of Cellular Physiology, 231(2): 473-82. PMID: 26189652

Ming, L., Byrne, NM., Camac, SN., Mitchell, CA., Ward, C., Waugh, DJ., McKeown, SR. and Worthington, J. (2013), Androgen deprivation results in time-dependent hypoxia in LNCaP prostate tumours: Informed scheduling of the bioreductive drug AQ4N improves treatment response. International Journal of Cancer, 132: 1323–1332. PMID: 22915157

Nomikou, N., Fowley, C., Byrne, NM., McCaughan, B., McHale, AP. & Callan, JF. (2012), Microbubble-sonosensitiser conjugates as therapeutics in sonodynamic therapy. Chemical Communications, 48: 8332-8334. PMID: 22790600

More Garvan Publications