Dr Niall Hyland

I completed my BSc (Hons) at Ulster University and PhD in Pharmacology at King’s College London. My work mapping neural pathways between the gut and brain, and characterisation of GABA-mediated effects on gastrointestinal (GI) physiology, supported the clinical investigation of GABAB receptor agonists in the management of reflux disease. At King’s, I took a pharmacological approach to describe the effects of Neuropeptide Y on colonic function and at the University of Calgary built upon this and determined the impact of obesity on peripheral Y2-receptor mediated responses. From Canada, I returned to Ireland where my work continued on the GI tract and now, also, the microbiome. The in vivo effect of mast cell stabilisers on visceral pain was an early focus of my work at University College Cork, which now includes the microbiota-gut-brain axis as a holistic unit. Most recently my work has considered how microbial-derived enzymes metabolise drugs and the impact of the gut microbiota on drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics. In 2020, I demitted as Vice President Meetings at the Society having also served on Council, Meetings Committee and Finance Committee.