Eimear Rutherford
London
Overview
11
11
years of professional experience
Work history
Postdoctoral research associate
Imperial College London
London
2025.02 - Current
- Investigating how key pulmonary and immune cells interact to drive lung remodelling in asthma by combining spatial transcriptomics, imaging mass cytometry, and complex human coculture systems.
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge
Cambridge, United Kingdom
2023.12 - 2024.05
- Characterisation of alveolar epithelial dysfunction in familial pulmonary fibrosis (FPF).
- Employed confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, and bulk RNAseq to characterise perturbed molecular pathways in FPF using alveolar epithelial organoids and 2-D cultures at the air-liquid interface
PhD in Medical Science
Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge
Cambridge, United Kingdom
2019.10 - 2023.12
- Exploring the link between SFTPC mistrafficking and alveolar epithelial dysfunction in interstitial lung disease.
- Designed and optimised targeted CRISPR/Cas9 forward genetic screens in immortalised cell lines and validated results in physiological model using CRISPRi.
- In collaboration, generated and characterised novel fetal lung-derived alveolar organoids.
- Cultured alveolar epithelial cells from adult human lung and fetal lung-derived progenitors in 3-D and 2-D culture at the air-liquid interface.
- Generated patient-specific disease models in alveolar organoids using base-editing technology and identified molecular pathways implicated in disease.
BSc Biotechnology
University of Galway
2015.09 - 2019.05
- Research project: An investigation into the activity of IRE1 kinase inhibitors in stressed HEK-293T cells. Conducted cell-based assays and qPCR to screen candidate IRE1 kinase inhibitors and identified compounds for further characterisation.
- GPA: First Class Honours
Internship in structural biology
European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Grenoble, France
Grenoble, France
2018.01 - 2018.06
- Structural characterisation of binding interface of S100A9 and non-peptidic ligands by X-ray crystallography.
- Expressed and purified constructs. Designed and performed crystallisation process.
- Carried out X-ray diffraction experiments to extract structural information from crystals. Integrated and processed data to determine structure of the biomolecule complex.
Skills
- 2D cell culture (immortalised and primary lines)
- 3D cell culture: Derivation, characterisation, and genetic manipulation of adult and fetal tissue-derived lines
- CRISPR KO, CRISPRi, base-editing, forward genetic screens
- Spatial biology technologies; Spatial transcriptomics, imaging mass cytometry
- PCR, RT-qPCR, western blotting, flow cytometry
- Immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry
- IT: Python, R, Microsoft Office, Prism GraphPad, ZenBlue, ZenBlack, Fiji ImageJ, FlowJo, Adobe Illustrator
Accomplishments
2024 D.W. Morgan Prize for Academic Excellence, St. Catharine’s College, University of Cambridge.
2022 Best PhD talk at University of Cambridge Department of Medicine Annual Research Day.
2019 Award for highest mark achieved for Bachelors in Biotechnology, class of 2019.
2015-18 Academic Excellence Scholarship, National University of Ireland, Galway.
2017 Scholarship for International Summer Academy in Engineering for Women, Wels, Austria.
2017 National University of Ireland, Galway volunteering award for activity with Cell Explorers, a science outreach programme for primary schools throughout Ireland.
Publications
Stölting H, Raftery AL, Walker SA, Rutherford EN, Gore ML, Huang Y, Puttur F, Yates L, Saglani S, Lloyd CM. Epidermal growth factor receptor controls sex differences in lung type 2 responses to inhaled allergen. Sci Immunol. 2026;11:eadk1673.
Rutherford EN, Sun D, Lim K, Edgar JR, Matesic LE, Marciniak SJ, Rawlins EL, Dickens JA. Endogenous gene editing of alveolar organoids reveals that expression of pathogenic variant SFTPC-I73T disrupts endosomal function, epithelial polarity and wound healing. bioRxiv. 2025 Jul 22;2025.07.22.665497.
Lim K*, Rutherford EN*, Sun D, Van den Boomen D, Edgar JR, Bang JH, Matesic LE, Lee JH, Lehner PJ, Marciniak SJ, Rawlins EL, Dickens JA. A novel human fetal lung-derived alveolar organoid model reveals mechanisms of surfactant protein C maturation relevant to interstitial lung disease. EMBO J 2025 Jan 144: 639 - 664. *Co-first author.
Dickens JA, Rutherford EN, Abreu S, Chambers JE, Ellis MO, van Schadewijk A, Hiemstra PS, Marciniak SJ. Novel insights into surfactant protein C trafficking revealed through the study of a pathogenic mutant. Eur Respir J. 2022 Jan 27;59(1):2100267.
Teaching and Public Engagement
- Supervision of a PhD student, 4 MSc students, 6 BSc students, and junior doctors on lab rotation throughout PhD and Postdoctoral positions, demonstrating lab techniques and experimental planning.
- Supervision of sixth form students for the Inspiring Scientists at CIMR outreach programme in 2022, 2023, and 2024, and 6th form students on summer work experience.
- Participated in the nationwide Women and Asthma campaign 2025, engaging the public through a UK-wide science–art installation on asthma.
- Attended Pulmonary Fibrosis Support Group, where current research in the field was communicated to patients.
- Volunteer with Cell Explorers, a science outreach programme for primary schools throughout Ireland, where I oversaw groups of 5/6 children performing and coordinating an experiment.
Conference Proceedings
Oral Presentations
- Inflammation, Repair, and Development Seminar, NHLI, February 2026
- Protein Trafficking Seminar Series, Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, May 2023.
- Department of Medicine Annual Research Day, University of Cambridge, December 2022.
- NECS Respiratory Biology Meeting, Sheffield, November 2022.
- British Thoracic Society Winter Meeting, Westminster, London. November 2022.
Poster presentations
- Lung Science Conference, ERS 2026
- European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Winter School 2026
- British Society for Immunology Congress 2025
- Kings, UCL, Imperial (KUCI) Respiratory Meeting 2025
- CIMR Annual Research Day, Cambridge 2021/22/23.
- British Society for Cell Biology, Warwick 2022.
- European Respiratory Society, Barcelona 2022.
Timeline
Postdoctoral research associate
Imperial College London
2025.02 - Current
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge
2023.12 - 2024.05
PhD in Medical Science
Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge
2019.10 - 2023.12
Internship in structural biology
European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Grenoble, France
2018.01 - 2018.06
BSc Biotechnology
University of Galway
2015.09 - 2019.05