Luke holds the Chair of Biochemistry at Trinity College Dublin where he leads the Inflammation Research Group. After receiving his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of London, he carried out postdoctoral research at the Strangeways Research Laboratory in Cambridge funded by the Medical Research Council. His research is focussed on the molecular basis of inflammation, with a particular emphasis on innate immunity, toll-like receptors, inflammasomes and metabolic reprogramming in macrophage activation.
In 2020 Luke was named by Clarivates/Thompson Reuters as one of the world’s most influential scientists, being in the top 1% of highly cited researchers in Immunology. He has won numerous awards for his research including the European Federation of Immunology Societies medal, the International Cytokine and Interferon Society Milstein Award, The Royal Dublin Society Boyle Medal for Scientific Excellence, and The Royal Irish Academy Gold Medal for Life sciences. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2016. Luke was a co-Founder of Inflazome, recently acquired by Roche Ltd.
Selected Publications
- Krebs cycle reimagined: The emerging roles of succinate and itaconate as signal transducers. Cell (2018), 174(4), 780-784.
- Macrophage immunometabolism: Where are we (going)?. Trends in Immunology (2017), 38(6), 395-406.
- An unexpected link between fatty acid synthase and cholesterol synthesis in proinflammatory macrophage activation. Journal of Biological Chemistry (2018), 293(15), 5509-5521.
- Itaconate is an anti-inflammatory metabolite that activates Nrf2 via alkylation of KEAP1. Nature (2018), 556(7699), 113-117.
- Succinate dehydrogenase supports metabolic repurposing of mitochondria to drive inflammatory macrophages. Cell (2016), 167(2), 457-470.
