The Coordinator of AutoCRAT, Professor Mary Murphy, spared some time to reply to a set of questions we posed to celebrate her career successes. Mary is a Professor of Regenerative Medicine and a Principal Investigator at the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) at the University of Galway in Ireland. Her research interests focus on the biology of stem cells and the development of innovative medicines and tissue engineering solutions for osteoarthritis and bone repair.
Can you give a tip or two to those aiming to become successful, leading academic researchers?
Professor Mary Murphy
To become a leading academic researcher, one has to really try and focus on research very early in their career. This is of course sometimes difficult as academics, particularly in Ireland, will have contracts that focus on teaching quite strongly as well as contributions to the university itself. However, if the particular person has had a successful postdoctoral career with some papers published, and in particular papers published in high-impact journals, they can become a very successful researcher. However, I can say for certain that it takes long hours certainly beyond what is usual for an academic. In terms of tips for achieving these aims:
- start early
- think of aiming to do a PhD in a very successful lab where 1) mentoring is available and 2) the possibility of moving on to a post-doctoral position in an associated laboratory, but in a slightly different area if possible and
- a focus on positions to add to skills.
What are some of the ways your research changed from 1995 to 2023?
My first position in the area of cell therapy was as a doctoral researcher in the first stem cell company worldwide based in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. This was a very exciting time in the field and certainly jumpstarted my career as a researcher and ultimately as an academic focusing on the area of Stem Cells Research. There is no doubt that there have been many changes since I first entered the lab, where all work was performed manually. As such, progress was slow. Looking back it is clear that the field has moved on in a way that I never anticipated but working in the area Galway enabled the continuation of a career in the area and maintaining a strong research presence in the area of cell therapy.
In terms of ways that the research has changed, in one sense it has changed very little because the basic techniques are the same. However, in another sense, it has changed radically, particularly with the introduction of automation and newer and more complex equipment enabling the achievement of the same ends more rapidly. For example, automation for manufacturing ATMPs such as stem cells or gene-modified stem cells, as well as their secretome/extracellular vesicles has allowed us to continue to generate novel research findings in the field. This effort was enabled by two sequential European Union (EU)-funded projects, Autostem (Grant agreement ID: 667932) initially followed by AutoCRAT which is still in progress.
What is the biggest challenge you face within research today?
Continuing to obtain sufficient funding for research activities is one of the biggest challenges that researchers face. Funders such as the European Union continuously assess areas that they fund and themes change. For example, funding for research in stem cell and gene therapies has reduced somewhat and researchers need to adapt rapidly to address the funding calls that become available. Another challenge in Ireland currently is that researchers trained in the area of stem cell or gene therapies are very employable with graduates employed by companies established in Ireland or further afield.
Which of your career achievements make you feel most satisfied?
In reality, these are also associated with research and training of researchers. The latter is probably the point that I am most proud of, but this is closely linked with the capacity to actually maintain the funding to train the researchers. As such, both could be put on an equal footing. Additionally, I am also proud of the publications that we have achieved in the area and the fact that these are relevant, which is highlighted by the level of citations that have been achieved.
In your opinion, what is most exciting about osteoarthritis and MSC research today? What has enabled this progress? What is necessary to progress this further?
In our area, I think the most exciting advance in cell therapy is the use of induced pluripotent stem cells and their derived secretome–extracellular vesicles (EV). If successful in the treatment of OA will certainly have a quicker translation through to actual patient use. Again, this is something we are looking at on AutoCRAT – making some progress but will be necessary to continue to look for more funding.
How is AutoCRAT important to the REMEDI/Curam at the University of Galway?
In terms of relevance to the University of Galway, AutoCRAT has enabled the training of early researchers and increased publications maintaining the profile of both REMEDI (Regenerative Medicine Institute) and Curam (https://www.universityofgalway.ie/curam/).
What do you like to do in your free time?
I love to garden and live in an area of considerable beauty (Connemara), hiking and walking when time is available. I also maintain an interest in sports, especially camogie and hurling.