Director of the Centre for Systems Medicine/
Head of Department, Physiology and Medical Physics
Tel: +353 1 402 2261
Fax: +353 1 402 2447
Email: jprehn@rcsi.ie

Biography

Prof Prehn’s research expertise is concentrated on patient-focused research in the areas of novel therapeutics and prognostic and predictive biomarkers in oncology, neuro-oncology and neuroscience. He has a particular interest in applying molecular cancer subtyping strategies and dynamic, network-informed systems models to deliver biologically-informed stratification tools. He holds several patents in identifying chemotherapy responsive patients, initially applied to the field of colorectal cancer, and more recently to glioblastoma and breast cancer. He has coordinated the FP7 Small/Medium Enterprise (SME)-focused Systems Medicine project APO-DECIDE that aimed to implement systems-informed patient stratification tools into the clinical setting through the collaboration with industry, and was highlighted by the EU Commission as one of the key success stories of Horizon 2020. He is currently coordinating Ireland’s first Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) EU project, PD-MitoQuant, comprising 13 academic and industrial partners.

During his career, Prof Prehn has been actively involved in the supervision and training of multi- and interdisciplinary teams at the interface of biomedical research, bioinformatics and systems biology, and clinical research. His current research is focused on molecular tumour profiling in colorectal cancer and employing systems biology, bioinformatics and biostatistical tools to identify diagnostic and prognostic stratification tools, pharmacodynamic biomarkers and novel therapeutics and combinatorial approaches for the treatment of colcorectal cancer and brain tumours.

Prof Prehn has acquired in excess of €30 M research funding as Principal Investigator to date, including the inaugural Science Found Ireland (SFI) Research Professorship, three SFI Investigator Awards (€2.3, €1.7 and €0.8 M) and a HRB Translational Research award (€1.4 M APO-COLON). He has been coordinator of several EU projects. He has published over 200 publications (Google Scholar: H-Index: 69; >16,000 citations).

For further details on  Mentoring and Supervision please see link.

Further details on Prof. Prehns Team Members at the Centre for Systems Medicine can be found here.

Current projects on  Cancer and Neuroscience

Current large scale programmes

i) PD-MitoQUANT EU-IM12 Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) Project, Role: Coordinator & PI; Duration: 01/02/19-31/01/22.

ii)RNA-NEURO, SFI, Role: Co-ordinator & PI; Duration 01/03/18 – 28/02/21, Total value of grant:

iii) COEN CARBON MODEL, SFI, Role: Co-ordinator & PI; Duration 01/04/18 – 31/03/20, T

  1. iv) FUTURENEURO, SFI Centre, Role: Centre PI: Duration 01/09/17 – 30/08/22,

Previous large-scale programmes:

i)APO-DECIDE EU-FP7 Systems Medicine Project, Role: Coordinator & PI; Duration: 11/01/12-31/01/15.

ii)National Biophotonics and Imaging Platform PRTLI Cycle 4 HEA, Role: Institutional Co-ordinator & PI; Duration 01/01/08 – 12/31/11,

iii) Neuro-Mir SFI / CoEN (Centres of Excellence in Neurodegeneration) Pathfinder I Award, Role: Coordinator and PI; Duration 01/11/ 13 – 1/11/15,

iv) JPND – CeBioND, Joint Programme in Neurodegeneration Research, Cellular Bioenergetics in Neurodegenerative Diseases: A system-based pathway and target analysis. Role: PI; Duration: 12/01/14-11/30/17

v)  SFI-Pfizer Biotherapeutics Innovation Award Programme 2014, Angiogenin delivery for the treatment of MND. Role: PI; Duration: 10/01/17 – 09/30/17.

Selected Relevant Research Funding as Lead/Co-Applicant

Total: 48 grants as PI worth ca. €30M between 1995-2019.