2006-2010 : BSc (Hons), Botany, at the National University of Ireland, Galway
Research and funding
Plant cell wall evolution from charophytic algae to primitive land plants.
I am studying the changes that occurred in the biochemical composition of the plant cell wall during this crucial transition during plant evolution.
I am also interested in algal polysaccharides in relation to biofuel production.
Research funding: Leverhulme Foundation (2010-2013)
Publications
Conferences
Poster presentations
O'Rourke, C.M. , Murray, L., Sadler, I.H. and Fry, S.C.: New cell wall polysaccharides in charophytic algae. XIIIth Cell Wall Meeting . July 7-12, 2013, P3 09., Nantes, France.
O'Rourke, C.M. , Fry, S.C.: New cell wall polysaccharides in charophytic algae. 5th European Phycological Congress.
4-9 September, 2011, Rhodes, Greece.
O'Rourke, C., Connan, S., Eschmann, C. and Stengel, D.B.:
Characterisation of pigment levels and composition in the brown seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum in Galway Bay, Ireland.
58th Annual Meeting of the British Phycological Society, Oban (UK), 6-10 January 2010.
O'Rourke, C., Connan, S., Eschmann, C. and Stengel, D.B.:
Characterisation of pigment levels and composition in the brown seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum in Galway Bay,
Ireland. Annual Meeting Botanical Society of the British Isles, London, November 2009.
Oral presentations
Franková, L. (speaker), O'Rourke, C.M., Fry, S.C.: Novel hemicellulose-remodelling transglycanases from charophytes:
towards the evolution of the land-plant cell wall. In: Abstract book of the XIIIth Cell Wall Meeting. July 7-12, 2013, O3-02. Nantes, France.
Fry, S.C. (speaker), Franková, L., O'Rourke, C.M.:
Primordial cell-wall polysaccharides and enzymes that remodel them in charophytic algae. In: Book of abstracts of SEB Annual Main Meeting. July 3-6, 2013, p. 150, P1.1. Valencia, Spain.
Stengel, D.B. (speaker), O'Rourke, C. and Connan, S.:
Variability in pigment composition and levels in the intertidal brown seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum from
western Ireland. XXth International Seaweed Symposium, Ensenada Baja California (Mexico), 22-26 February 2010