Information

Membership Number: FCA3125

Membership Type: Fellowship

Division: Natural Sciences

Corresponding Email: ***tinsj@tcd.ie

Homepage(s): https://www.tcd.ie/Genetics/research/martins/index.html 

Present and Previous Positions

Smurfit Professor of Medical Genetics / Smurfit Chair of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, since 1999.

Principal Investigator / Laboratory Head, Martin Laboratory, Trinity College Dublin.

Editor-in-Chief and Chairman, The FEBS Journal, since 2014. 

Fields of Scholarship and Research Interests

Medical Genetics; Cell Biology; Molecular Biology; Apoptosis and Programmed Cell Death; Inflammation; Cancer Biology; Immunology; Cytokine Biology; Cell Stress and ER Stress; Autophagy and Necrosis

Professor Seamus Martin is a leading medical geneticist and cell biologist whose work has significantly advanced understanding of programmed cell death, especially apoptosis, and its broader implications for inflammation, cancer, and human disease. Trinity College Dublin describes his laboratory as being interested in all aspects of programmed cell death, with particular emphasis on the links between cell death, inflammation, and cancer. His research has helped define how apoptotic pathways are regulated and how disruptions in these pathways bear on major disease processes, including cancer, auto-immune disorders, neurodegeneration, and inflammatory conditions. 

He is especially recognized for contributions that have become foundational within the field. Trinity’s official materials note his role in the introduction of annexin V labeling, now regarded as the gold standard for measuring apoptotic cell death, as well as major work on the caspase activation cascade, autophagic cell death, inflammatory consequences of apoptosis, Parkin-related pathways, IL-36 cytokine activation, and stress-linked inflammatory signaling. This body of work places him among the most influential researchers in the biology of cell death and its medical significance. 

A further characteristic of his career is its breadth beyond laboratory research alone. In addition to his scientific publications, he has co-authored several editions of the classic textbook Essential Immunology, served as Editor-in-Chief of The FEBS Journal since 2014, and held major leadership roles in the European Cell Death Organization. These activities reflect a profile that combines discovery, teaching, editorial leadership, and international disciplinary influence.

Honors, Awards and Other Membership

Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal in Life and Medical Sciences, 2025. Trinity notes that he was recognized for an internationally outstanding scholarly contribution in his field.

RDS-Irish Times Boyle Medal, 2014, described by Trinity and Academia Europaea as Ireland’s premier science prize / highest scientific honor.

ERC Advanced Grant, 2021.

Irish Research Council Advanced Laureate Award, 2019.

ICDS Prize, International Cell Death Society, 2016.

Honorary Doctorate (DSc), Saint Petersburg Technology Institute, 2017.

Member of the Royal Irish Academy (elected 2006).

Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, EMBO (elected 2009).

Member of Academia Europaea (elected 2023).

Fellow of Trinity College Dublin (elected 2002).

GlaxoSmithKline Award, Biochemical Society UK, 2006.

British Association Charles Darwin Award, 2005.

Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow Award in Biomedical Science, 1996–2001.

Wellcome Trust International Prize Fellowship Award, 1994–1996.

Human Frontier Science Program Organization Long-term Fellowship Award, 1994.

Institute of Biology of Ireland Gold Medal, 1987.

Selected Publications

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=i4NirSEAAAAJ&hl=en 

Other Information

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seamus_Martin_(biochemist)