Pauline Scanlan

Dr. Pauline Scanlan is a Lecturer in the School of Microbiology at University College Cork (UCC), leading the Scanlan Lab at the APC Microbiome Ireland research institute. Her research focuses on the ecology and evolution of the human gut microbiome, including antimicrobial resistance (AMR), bacteria-phage coevolution, and protist diversity. She holds a Royal Society-Science Foundation Ireland University Research Fellowship and previously worked at the University of Oxford and Teagasc.

Education:

• B.Sc. (Plant and Microbial Biotechnology), UCC, 2002
• Ph.D. (Medicine), UCC, 2007

Research Interests: Dr. Scanlan investigates how gut microbiota evolve in response to antibiotics, biotic interactions, and environmental factors. Key areas include AMR evolution, phage-bacteria dynamics, Blastocystis prevalence, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) associations.

Articles: Her recent work highlights antibiotic impacts on gut microbiota stability, phage-bacteria coexistence mechanisms, and protist diversity in health. Themes include microbial adaptation, community resilience, and evolutionary trade-offs in the gut ecosystem.

Awards:

• Royal Society-Science Foundation Ireland University Research Fellowship (2015)
• Marie Curie Intra-European Research Fellowship

Grants & Labs: The Scanlan Lab explores microbiome evolution using in vitro models and longitudinal human cohort studies. Active projects include IBD-related research and microbial coevolutionary dynamics.