James Rooney

James Rooney

Role: Post Doctoral Researcher

Started: June 2026

Focus: Vaccines

Expertise: Recombinant  protein expression, helminth-microbiota interactions

Fun Fact: Doodles worm-related cartoons and posts them on social media

James Rooney graduated from Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) with a Master’s in Science, Biochemistry with Professional Studies. During his time at QUB, he completed two research projects focussed on the recombinant expression and characterisation of antioxidant proteins of Fasciola hepatica. Moving to the University of Cambridge to work within Professor Cinzia Cantacessi’s lab, James completed a PhD on the topic of helminth-host-microbiota interactions. This research was aimed at characterizing the response of microbial communities within the gastrointestinal tract of ruminants to nematode infection, while also uncovering potential antimicrobial mechanisms that parasites may employ to control their surrounding bacterial populations. He moved to University College Dublin to work as a postdoctoral researcher with Professor Grace Mulcahy, where he was involved in mapping triclabendazole resistance in F. hepatica populations in Irish sheep flocks.

James joined the Molecular Parasitology Lab (MPL) as a postdoctoral researcher where he will work alongside the team at MPL to produce, analyse and formulate anti-helminth vaccines, execute vaccine trials in ruminants and analyse the ruminant response to vaccines and parasites infection.