Luke A. J. O'Neill

Luke Anthony John O'Neill FRS is Professor of Biochemistry in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin.

O'Neill was educated at Trinity College Dublin where he was awarded an undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences (Biochemistry) in 1985. He completed his postgraduate study at the University of London where he was awarded a PhD in Pharmacology for the research investigating the characterisation of interleukin-1-induced prostaglandin E₂ release in human synovial cells in 1988. Following his PhD, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Strangeways Research Laboratory in Cambridge funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC).

O’Neill's research investigates inflammation, a highly complex process that is provoked in the body during infection by bacteria and viruses but also in response to major trauma and injury. Inflammation restores us to health but for largely unknown reasons it can go rogue and give rise to a whole range of inflammatory diseases which remain difficult to treat.

He has worked on the innate immune system, which lies at the heart of inflammation. He has uncovered new molecules and biochemical processes that are triggered by sensors of infection and tissue injury, including the toll-like receptors and inflammasomes, and the signals they drive that stimulate inflammation, notably cytokines in the interleukin-1 family. He is using his findings to help in the effort to develop novel anti-inflammatory medicines. In 2004, he co-founded Opsona Therapeutics with Kingston Mills and Dermot P. Kelleher.

His research has been funded by the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the European Research Council (ERC), the Wellcome Trust and GlaxoSmithKline.

O'Neill was awarded the Royal Dublin Society & The Irish Times Robert Boyle Medal for scientific excellence in 2009, the Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal for Life Sciences in 2012 and the European Federation of Immunology Societies (EFIS) Medal in 2014. He was elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) in 2005. O'Neill was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2016.