Aisling Cheallaigh

Biography

Aisling is from Kildare, Ireland and obtained her BSc in Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology at University College Dublin (UCD). She obtained an IRC scholarship to complete her PhD studies where she synthesised bacterial oligosaccharides towards synthetic vaccines under the supervision of Prof Stefan Oscarson at UCD. She then took up a PDRA position at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) with Dr John Gardiner and Prof Nigel Scrutton working on chemoenzymatic synthesis of monoterpenoids. From here, she moved to a Senior Scientist role at AstraZeneca where she worked in Chemical Development of anticancer therapeutics before returning to academia for another PDRA in carbohydrate synthesis with Prof Oscarson at UCD. During this position, she spent time in Prof Gavin Miller’s group at Keele University as part of a Knowledge Exchange Partnership and focused on the synthesis of human oligosaccharides including glycosaminoglycans, blood group antigens and glycoconjugates thereof. During this time Aisling received Chartered Chemist (CChem) status with the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). Aisling then went on to a Research Fellow position at the Future Biomanufacturing Research Hub with Prof Nigel Scrutton, FRS at the MIB where she focused on downstream processing and biocatalysis. Here she obtained Chartered Scientist (CSci) status and a Project Management Qualification with the Association for Project Management. She started her current role as Senior Experimental Officer at Keele University in 2022. Aisling is a glyco-enthusiast and is heavily involved with the carbohydrate community through her roles as secretary for the RSC Carbohydrate Interest Group and as a Founding Member of the European Glycoscience Community.