Emma McKay (@Emck197) header
Emma McKay (@Emck197) profile picture

Emma McKay

@Emck197

PhD candidate at Queen's University Belfast. Innate immunity, Inflammasomes and interaction proteomics. All views are my own

 Belfast, Northern Ireland
Joined January 2017
  • Tweets176
  • Following316
  • Followers125
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Photo by Emma McKay (@Emck197)Photo by Emma McKay (@Emck197)Photo by Emma McKay (@Emck197)Photo by Emma McKay (@Emck197)Photo by Emma McKay (@Emck197)Photo by Emma McKay (@Emck197)Photo by Emma McKay (@Emck197)Photo by Emma McKay (@Emck197)Photo by Emma McKay (@Emck197)Photo by Emma McKay (@Emck197)
So proud of the new Dr @Emck197 for smashing her PhD viva! Huge thank you to her examiners @BenediktKessler @gunnar_ns for great discussions on NLRP3 inflammasomes and proteomics - first student co-supervised work Prof Ben Collins in the Collins Lab-Coll Lab-Collaboration!
Image from Dr Rebecca Coll (@Rebecca_Coll)
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RESEARCH BREAKTHROUGH: Discovery could lead to new drug treatments for #InflammatoryDiseases including #Alzheimers, #asthma, #arthritis and #obesity. Find out more: ow.ly/aYb050WQeJo #LoveQUBResearch @WWIEM_QUB @bioagelabs @MHLSQUB
Image shows a square box -the top shows a researcher filling a pipette. The bottom contains a red rectangle with white text that reads: “This research breakthrough highlights the benefit of combining academic expertise with industry to make real-world impact. We hope this discovery will lead to the development of new, targeted anti-inflammatory drugs which will help treat these devastating diseases.” Dr Rebecca Coll, Senior Lecturer in Immunobiology. There is also a photo of Dr Rebecca Coll beside the text in the bottom left-hand corner.

ALT Image shows a square box -the top shows a researcher filling a pipette. The bottom contains a red rectangle with white text that reads: “This research breakthrough highlights the benefit of combining academic expertise with industry to make real-world impact. We hope this discovery will lead to the development of new, targeted anti-inflammatory drugs which will help treat these devastating diseases.” Dr Rebecca Coll, Senior Lecturer in Immunobiology. There is also a photo of Dr Rebecca Coll beside the text in the bottom left-hand corner.

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Delighted to share that our study with @bioagelabs NLRP3 inhibitors is now online @JExpMed ! Together with @Geyer_lab @benedicte_py and @Innate_immuno we characterise BAL-0028 and BAL-0598. Excited to see the new NLRP3 biology they will reveal!
Journal of Experimental Medicine (@JExpMed) profile pictureJournal of Experimental Medicine@JExpMed2 Sep 2025
#NLRP3 is a target for anti-inflammatory therapies & can be inhibited by the tool compound MCC950. Wilhelmsen, @Rebecca_Coll et al. characterize new small-molecule inhibitors, BAL-0028 & BAL-0598, that have a distinct mechanism of action & binding site. hubs.la/Q03GtbGx0
Image from Journal of Experimental Medicine (@JExpMed)
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Had a brilliant couple of days with the lab in Galway at the @Irishimmunology meeting - great science and great craic !!!
Image from Dr Rebecca Coll (@Rebecca_Coll)
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New review from our lab. Kudos to PhD student @SebGrant346534. 10 things you wish you knew about inflammatory caspases: a holistic review of their biochemistry, activation, and signalling - Journal of Biological Chemistry jbc.org/article/S0021-9258%2…

10 things you wish you knew about inflammatory caspases: A holistic review of their biochemistry,...

Caspases are a family of cysteine proteases conserved across all metazoa which play critical functions that range from cell death, inflammation, and cellular differentiation. Caspases cleave a subset...

jbc.org
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Emma McKay retweeted
James Orr (@JamesAOrr) profile picture
James Orr@JamesAOrr18 Jul 2025
Commercial eel fishing on Lough Neagh forced to close for 2025. If these were jobs lost in Agri-food giants or the mining/dredging firms on #LoughNeagh the government would be bending over backwards to help. irishnews.com/news/northern-…
Commercial eel fishing on Lough Neagh forced to close for 2025

Commercial eel fishing on Lough Neagh forced to close for 2025

Industry ‘casualty of significant environmental change within the lough’

irishnews.com
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Huge congratulations to the new Dr Mawhinney!! @TheaMawhinney Thank you to her fantastic examiners Prof Suzanne Cloonan @suzcloo and Prof Cliff Taggart @WWIEM_QUB
Image from Dr Rebecca Coll (@Rebecca_Coll)
Image from Dr Rebecca Coll (@Rebecca_Coll)
Image from Dr Rebecca Coll (@Rebecca_Coll)
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We just launched a research hub to tackling #MultipleSclerosis The NI MS Research Hub will bring together a collaborative team of experts to help accelerate leading research and improve the lives of people affected by the condition shorturl.at/46e5V @QUBelfast @mssocietyNI
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Caspase-1 self-terminates protease activity to enforce homeostasis and prevent inflammasome-driven diseases biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/… #biorxiv_immuno
Caspase-1 self-terminates protease activity to enforce homeostasis and prevent inflammasome-driven...

Caspase-1 self-terminates protease activity to enforce homeostasis and prevent inflammasome-driven...

Signal shutdown mechanisms must exist to silence the potent inflammatory programs initiated by the caspase-1 (CASP1) protease, to allow inflammation to resolve and reinstate tissue homeostasis. It is...

biorxiv.org
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The loss of TBK1, or both TBK1 and the related kinase IKKε, results in uncontrolled cell death–driven inflammation. We show that TBK1/IKKε prevent premature cell death by limiting the activity of multiple death pathways in myeloid cells.@FabiAlexFischer science.org/doi/10.1126/scia…
TBK1 and IKKε prevent premature cell death by limiting the activity of both RIPK1 and NLRP3 death...

TBK1 and IKKε prevent premature cell death by limiting the activity of both RIPK1 and NLRP3 death...

TBK1 and IKKe prevent premature cell death by limiting the activity of multiple death pathways in myeloid cells.

science.org
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We are at NI Science Festival @QUBbioscience beta testing our virus game “sense and susceptibility” alongside the classic build a virus activity!
Image from Connor G. G. Bamford, Ph.D (@cggbamford)
Image from Connor G. G. Bamford, Ph.D (@cggbamford)
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Applications for undergraduate summer studentships @WWIEM_QUB are now open. We would love to host enthusiastic students from anywhere in the world in Belfast! 👨‍🔬👩‍🔬🧪💊🌎 Details: qub.ac.uk/research-centres/w…

Wellcome-Wolfson Institute For Experimental Medicine

qub.ac.uk
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Very happy that our team "Deck the Colls" won the annual Christmas table quiz (again!) @WWIEM_QUB thanks to quizmaster extraordinaire Derek Brazil 🎄🍾
Image from Dr Rebecca Coll (@Rebecca_Coll)
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Interesting new research on #NLRP3 #Inflammasome regarding unique"molecular glue" NEK7 degrader approach, spearheaded by colleagues @Novartis to which we had the pleasure of contributing! Checkout the in vitro and in vivo data on @biorxiv_immuno via biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
Image from Alex Weber, immunologist researcher in Tübingen (@Innate_immuno)
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Want to profile your favourite protein's molecular environment? Here a detailed APEX2-based protocol applied to spatially resolve the NLRP3 inflammasome @Zhu_L_Oxford @AndreasDamiano2 @flassen_ @ProteomOX @CAMS_COI_Ox @CmdOxford sciencedirect.com/science/ar…
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What a brilliant week for the lab in Munich! So much inflammasome research and beer 🍻 #EMBOinflammasomes2024 @TheaMawhinney @Emck197 @ChloeMck2022 @RyanKnight_
Image from Dr Rebecca Coll (@Rebecca_Coll)
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Inflammasome components as new therapeutic targets in inflammatory disease dlvr.it/TD1qHc
Image from Nature Rev Immunol (@NatRevImmunol)
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Excited to share our new review @NatRevImmunol on #inflammasome components as new therapeutic targets in inflammatory disease 🔥💊 Led by the one and only @inflammasomelab full text here: rdcu.be/dTqxt
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Delighted to report that the Gasderminators were once again triumphant @WWIEM_QUB summer BBQ table quiz - there was even some sunshine 😎🔥
Image from Dr Rebecca Coll (@Rebecca_Coll)
Image from Dr Rebecca Coll (@Rebecca_Coll)
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Our 3rd @SoapboxScience Belfast 24 from @QUB_SMDBS is @TheaMawhinney. Thea is a 3rd year PhD in @Rebecca_Coll's lab in @WWIEM_QUB. Thea's talk focuses on inflammation in the lungs 🫁 . @Geetha400 @CLagunas5 @QUBCritCareResp @dfmcauley @ceciliaokane @UlsterMuseum @qubgradschool
Image from Public Engagement MHLS (@qubengagemhls_d)
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