Shock at sudden passing of top cancer scientist

Dr Jennifer Quinn-O’Brien, who was a Research Fellow at Queen’s University, Belfast, passed away on Monday.

The 36 year-old, a mother of three, was from the Cherry Hill area of the town and was one of Northern Ireland’s top scientists who made groundbreaking research into breast cancer.

Originally from the Waterside area of Derry, Dr Quinn-O’Brien moved to South Derry a number of years ago.

In 2007 she was one of three scientists to have been awarded a Breast Cancer Campaign scientific fellowship in identifying genes involved in making the common cancer either responsive or immune to chemotherapy treatments.

She had just completed that fellowship last month.

Read today’s Mid-Ulster Mail for more on this story