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Postgraduate

Team Profiles

Aert Scheper

Aert Scheper

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Aert obtained a BSc in Biomedical Sciences and MSc in Regenerative Medicine & Technology from Utrecht University. His research interests include biomaterials, regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. At CÚRAM, Aert is working under supervision of Prof. Pandit in the PREMUROSA project.

Alexandre Watigny

Alexandre Watigny

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Alexandre did a “Cursus Master of Engineering” (CMI), where he received a BSc in Biochemistry and Cellular Biology, followed with a MSc in Biomaterial for health and finally a CMI certification label, at the newly CY Tech Cergy-Paris University, France. His research interests focus on Tissue Engineering and Biomaterial for skin repair. Alexandre is working under the supervision of Dr. Dimitrios Zeugolis, in collaboration with Viscus Biologics to develop novel therapy biomaterials for wound repair.

Amal Aljaabary

Amal Aljaabary

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Amal received her MB BCh (Bachelor of medicine and surgery) at Alexandria Faculty of Medicine, Egypt and worked for some time as a pediatric resident before joining CÚRAM. Amal is working under the supervision of Prof. Abhay Pandit, focusing on the applications of biomaterials in regenerative medicine.

Amir Mohammed Abdo

Amir Mohammed Abdo

Doctoral Candidate

Amir received a BSc in Chemistry & Biochemistry, MSc in Biochemistry, Helwan University, Egypt and MSc in Biological& Bioprocess Engineering, Sheffield University, U.K. He spent some time working as a research assistant of chemistry at NCRRT, Egypt. In CÚRAM, he is working under the supervision of Prof. Abhay Pandit on the designing of nitric oxide scavengers.

Ankita Pramanick

Ankita Pramanick

Doctoral Candidate

I have received my Bachelor of Technology (BTech) degree in Fibre Technology from the University of Calcutta, and Master of Technology (MTech, Gold medalist) in Fibre Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD). My research interests include biomaterials and bioprinting. I am working as a PhD candidate in CÚRAM. My research is focused on engineering shape morphogenesis in tissue and organ model using bioprinting, under the supervision of Prof. Abhay Pandit and Dr. Andrew Daly.

Augusto Loffredo

Augusto Loffredo

Doctoral Candidate

Augusto received a Bachelor of Engineering in Biotechnological Engineering at UNESP, Brazil, and he studied one year of Biomedical Engineering in University of Galway. He worked for four years in the Physics, Biophysics and Biomaterials lab of UNESP – Assis. His research interests include biomaterials, polymers and medical devices development. He is working under the supervision of Dr Manus Biggs on the development of microelectrodes for further medical applications.

Blake Bowers

Blake Bowers

Doctoral Candidate

Blake received a BSc in Mathematics from University of Galway, and then obtained a masters in International Entrepreneurship Management from the University of Limerick. Blake is working under the supervision of Prof. Jonathan Levie on the Commercialisation of CÚRAM's technologies. His research interests include: commercialisation, innovation, technological entrepreneurship, and strategy.

Büşra Günay

Büşra Günay

Doctoral Candidate

Büşra has a BSc in Biology and an MSc in Biotechnology, Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey. Her research area includes bone tissue engineering, biomaterials and regenerative medicine with orthopaedic applications. In CÚRAM, she is working under the supervision of Prof. Abhay Pandit in collaboration with Dr Sibylle Grad of AO Foundation, Davos, Switzerland.

Catherine Healy

Catherine Healy

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Catherine obtained a BSc in Biomedical Sciences with a specialisation in Pharmacology from University of Galway in 2020. Her research interests include neuroscience, the endocannabinoid system, chronic pain, and wound healing. Catherine is undertaking an industry-partnered project under the supervision of Prof David Finn, and co-supervision of Prof Abhay Pandit and Dr Georgina Gethin.

Christopher Lally

Christopher Lally

Doctoral Candidate

Christopher holds a BSc (Hons) in Neuroscience from University College Dublin and an MSc in Biotechnology from University of Galway. He has spent some time working as a process scientist with Bionua, a small biopharmaceutical start-up. Christopher's current focus at CÚRAM is the development of device-based solutions for unmet needs in multiple sclerosis, under the supervision of Prof. Abhay Pandit and Dr Una Fitzgerald.

Daniela Costa

Daniela Costa

Doctoral Candidate

Daniela graduated in Biochemistry and received an MSc in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the Univ. of Coimbra, Portugal. Later, she engaged in a Michael J. Fox Foundation-funded project at the Univ. of Bordeaux. As part of the EU ITN PMSMatTrain consortium, she is currently developing a therapeutic agent delivery system for Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. Daniela will be carrying out her research under the supervision of Dr Una Fitzgerald and co-supervision of Dr Jill McMahon at NUIG.

Darragh Ryan

Darragh Ryan

Doctoral Candidate

Darragh completed a BSc in Experimental Physics at University of Galway followed by an MSc in Mathematical Physics at NUI Maynooth. He has worked as a researcher in Data Science for UCD as part of an SFI partnership project in collaboration with industry. He is currently working on introducing machine learning methods for improving advanced manufacturing techniques of medical devices, such as laser-enabled printing processes. An important aspect of his research focuses on the current regulatory framework and future developments in this space, in particular with regards to machine leaning and AI. Darragh is carrying out his research at University of Galway under the supervision of Dr. Ger O’Connor and co-supervision of Dr. Elaine Harris.

Elena De Lucia

Elena De Lucia

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Elena received a BSc in Biomedical Laboratory Tecnique at University of Ferrara, Italy and a MSc in Functional Genomics at University of Trieste, Italy. Her research area is stem cell research, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Elena is working under the supervision of Dr Dimitrios Zeugolis in the REMODEL group.

Georgina Targa

Georgina Targa

Doctoral Candidate

Georgina obtained a BSc in Biomedical Sciences and MSc in Translational Medicine from the University of Barcelona. Her research interests include Regenerative Medicine and Tissue engineering. She is working under the supervision of Prof. Abhay Pandit in the EU iPSpine project.

Gianluca Bartolini Torres

Gianluca Bartolini Torres

Doctoral Candidate

Gianluca obtained a Bachelor and Master's Degree in Chemical Sciences and Technologies at the university of Milano-Bicocca, Italy. His research focuses on the development of a new class of bioadhesives by engineering bioadhesive properties into the polypeptide hydrogels, a new kind of hybrid materials aiming to be use for 3D printing applications in tissue engineering. Gianluca is working under the supervision of Prof. Andreas Heise at the Royal College Dublin of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin.

Gillian Murphy

Gillian Murphy

Doctoral Candidate

Gillian graduated in 2012 with a BSc (Hons) in Pharmacology, University of Galway. She was a Chemistry Analytical Scientist at GSK, R&D Analytical and R&D Formulation Scientist at Mylan. She is undertaking an industrial-partnered project funded by Mylan. Key elements of her project in CÚRAM will be in the development of a novel sustained release drug delivery system. Gillian is working under the supervision of Prof. Abhay Pandit.

Hendrik Müller

Hendrik Müller

Doctoral Candidate

Hendrik obtained a BSc and MSc in Medical Engineering Science, Universität zu Lübeck. Research interest include biophysics, fluidics, laser applications and imaging. He is working on a CÚRAM project to develop and evaluate novel devices for wound treatment. The project centres on creating an artificial wound model using the printed electronics and biomaterials manufacturing test-bed under development at University of Galway, and under the supervision of Dr Gerard O’Connor and Dr Georgina Gethin.

Hong Cong

Hong Cong

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Hong Cong graduated with Bachelor’s degree in Clinical Medicine from Xiangya Medical College of Central South University, Changsha city, China. In 2020, with the funding of China Scholarship Council and University of Galway, he arrived in Ireland to start a 4-year PhD research program. His research interests include adrenocortical cell, tumor immune microenvironment and nanoparticle novel therapy. At CÚRAM, Hong Cong is working under supervision of Dr Michael Conall Dennedy.

Jack Schofield

Jack Schofield

Doctoral Candidate

Jack received a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry at Trinity College Dublin, followed by an MSc in Cellular Manufacturing and Therapy at University of Galway. His research interests include glycobiology, metabolism and their roles in corneal pathology. He is working under the supervision of Prof. Abhay Pandit and Prof. Thomas Ritter.

Jinxin Zhang

Jinxin Zhang

Doctoral Candidate

Jinxin completed her BCs (Hons) Chemistry with biophysical chemistry at University College Dublin and M.Sc in Pharmaceutical science at Trinity College Dublin. Her PhD project is on intra-articular delivery of a solid lipid nanoparticle containing an anti-inflammatory steroid prodrug to treat osteoarthritis under the supervision of Prof. David Brayden.

Junaid Ur Rehman

Junaid Ur Rehman

Doctoral Candidate

Junaid is biologist with a diverse background of Biochemistry, Material Sciences, Molecular Biology, and Bioinformatics. He has experience of various complex projects with forward planning, organization, and consistent techniques. After a Masters's degree in Biochemistry from the University of Kashmir, he joined a structural biology group headed by Dr. Arati Ramesh at the National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, India.

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Katie McGarry

Katie McGarry

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Katie received her BSc (Hons) in Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology and her MSc in Nanomaterials Chemistry from University College Dublin. Her research involves the preparation of magnetically responsive composites by incorporating magnetic nanoparticles in peptide hydrogels (Pepti-Gels) for biomedical applications in cancer therapy and MRI imaging. In CÚRAM she is working under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Dermot Brougham in University College Dublin in collaboration with Manchester BIOGEL.

Liam Fitzgerald

Liam Fitzgerald

Doctoral Candidate

Liam received his BSc in Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Chemistry from Maynooth Univeristy. As part of this he undertook an internship in The Human Toxicology Section of The State Laboratory. His interest areas include both organic and medical chemistry. Liam is currently working under the supervision of Dr. Miriam O’Duill on the development of Self-Immolative Linkers for Ion-Responsive Drug Delivery.

Magesh Sankar

Magesh Sankar

Doctoral Candidate

Mansoor Al-waeel

Mansoor Al-waeel

Doctoral Candidate

Mansoor received Doctor of Pharmacy (bachelor’s) from University of Peshawar, Pakistan. He received Erasmus Mundus joint Master’s in Nanomedicine for drug delivery from the University of Paris Descartes, France in collaboration with the University of Pavia, Italy, University of Patras, Greece and University of Angers France. Mansoor spent some time working at Alfasigma S.p.A. pharmaceuticals, Italy. Currently, he is working in the PMSMatTrain project under the supervision of Prof. Abhay Pandit at CÚRAM.

Masroora Hassan

Masroora Hassan

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Masroora Hassan is a student of B.Sc. in Medical Laboratory Technology from Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences and M.Sc. in Clinical Biochemistry from University of Kashmir , India. She is working as a PhD candidate in CURAM. My research is focused on the development of functional biomaterials for IBD treatment under supervision of Dr. Yury Rochev.

Małgorzata Dąbrowska

Małgorzata Dąbrowska

Doctoral Candidate

Małgorzata received her MSc in Neuroscience at Jagiellonian Univ. Cracow, Poland. During her thesis, she worked on the impact of a KCNQ1 channel mutation associated with the Brugada Syndrome at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Later, she worked at the Małopolskie Centre of Biotechnology in Cracow, Poland. Małgorzata has a deep passion for the neurodegenerative side of neuroscience, especially multiple sclerosis. In CÚRAM, she is working under supervision of Dr Una Fitzgerald in the PMSMatTrain project.

Meletios-Nikolaos Doulgkeroglou

Meletios-Nikolaos Doulgkeroglou

Doctoral Candidate

Meletios obtained an MSc in Mechanical Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece in 2009. In 2017, he received an MSc in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Patras, Greece. His research interests include the development of biomaterials using different methods such as electrospinning for soft tissue engineering. Meletios is working in the REMODEL group under the supervision of Dr Dimitrios Zeugolis.

Muireann O'Reilly

Muireann O'Reilly

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Muireann obtained a BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Science, with a major in Anatomy, from University of Galway in 2021. Her research area includes anatomy, bioengineering and regenerative medicine, particularly delivery devices for biomaterial-based therapies for cardiac repair. At CÚRAM, Muireann is working under the supervision of Prof. Garry Duffy in the Duffy Lab at University of Galway, where her research is focussed on developing a novel device for delivering therapeutic hydrogels to the myocardium post-myocardial infarction.

Naledi Shologu

Naledi Shologu

Doctoral Candidate

Naledi received a BSc (Honours) in Medical Biotechnology, Institute of Technology Sligo and a MSc in Biomedical Science, University of Galway. Her research interests include: stem cell research, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. She is working under the supervision of Dr Dimitrios Zeugolis in the REMODEL group.

Neville Murphy

Neville Murphy

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Having completed my undergrad and submitting a masters thesis on the subject my field of research is focused on the metallacarboranes, which are typical 'sandwich' metal complexes using polyhedral carborane ligands. Their enzyme inhibition and antimicrobial properties have catered well to my interests in research thus far; the medicinal applications of these molecules. In CÚRAM I am working on loading metallacarboranes into biomaterials as a therapeutic agent. My Supervisor is Dr. Pau Farràs.

Niamh Geoghegan

Niamh Geoghegan

Doctoral Candidate

Niamh graduated from University College Dublin with a BSc (Hons) in Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology. She is undertaking a PhD in the Kelleher Nanostructured Biomaterials Group based in the School of Chemistry, UCD. Within CÚRAM, her research is focused on biodegradable nanoneedle arrays and their potential for cell/tissue penetration for medical device applications. Niamh is working under the supervision of Dr Susan Kelleher.

Nuno Silva

Nuno Silva

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Nuno Silva is a PhD student in Electrical and Electronics Engineering in University of Galway, under the supervision of Dr Adnan Elahi and Dr Martin O’Halloran in the Translational Medical Device Lab. His research is focused in electromagnetic inductive methods to be applied in biomedical sensors, specifically on the development of a surveillance monitoring sensor for aortic aneurisms. Nuno received his BSc and MSc in Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering from University of Lisbon in 2019.

Patricia Bocanegra Lopez

Patricia Bocanegra Lopez

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Preethem Srinath

Preethem Srinath

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Preethem received his BS in Biomedical Engineering from Drexel University, USA and his MSc in Regenerative Medicine from Manipal University, India. His research interests include developing biomaterial-based solutions to address unmet clinical needs, tissue engineered in vitro models to study disease, and 3D Bioprinting. He will be working on Extracellular Matrix based drug delivery systems to alleviate chronic pain in non-healing wounds, under the supervision of Prof Abhay Pandit.

Rahul Bhatti

Rahul Bhatti

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Rahul has completed B.Sc. (Hons.) Chemistry from Hansraj College, University of Delhi and Masters in Chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, India. His research focuses on developing polymerbased drug delivery system. In CURAM, Rahul will be working on preparing Polymer based nanosphere for targeting Multiple Myeloma under the supervision of Prof Abhay Pandit.

Sandeep Karki

Sandeep Karki

Doctoral Candidate

Sandeep obtained his B.Pharm from Pokhara University, Nepal, and completed a Master’s degree in Industrial Pharmaceutical Science as a Korean Government Scholarship Program (KGSP) recipient from Chung-Ang University, South Korea. His core research interests are developing and characterizing oral drug delivery systems, particularly the extended-release dosage forms including mucoadhesive oral films/patches, pellets, and multi-layered tablets. Currently, he is working under the supervision of Professor David Brayden at UCD on the design and characterization of a buccal patch for the delivery of GLP-1 peptides or similar analogues.

Sarah Feely

Sarah Feely

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Sean Kilroy

Sean Kilroy

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

Sean Kilroy obtained his BSc and MEng (Biomedical) from UCD, and is currently pursuing a PhD there. His area of research is the interaction of minimally invasive medical devices with GI tissue. At CÚRAM, he will be further developing Endopierce, a device for safe material injection in the submucosal space, as part of UCD’s MDD Group and in collaboration with Prof. Giovanni Traverso’s lab. Supervising the project is Dr. Eoin O'Cearbhaill, BE, PhD, an Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering at UCD.

Secil Demir

Secil Demir

Doctoral Candidate

Secil received a BSc in Molecular Biology and Genetics, Istanbul University, Turkey and a MSc in Biotechnology from Yeditepe University, Turkey. Her main field of interest lies in regenerative medicine with special emphasis on molecular biology techniques such as gene therapy for tissue regeneration. Secil is working under the supervision of Prof. Abhay Pandit.

Seán O'Halloran

Seán O'Halloran

Doctoral Candidate

Seán received his BSc in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences in DCU. His research is based on the development of hybrid gene editing biomaterials and biocompatible coatings for medical devices, to act as superoxide dismutase catalysts, using 3D laser lithography, “Click” chemistry and chelating ligands. His work is performed within the Nano Research Facility in DCU on the reduction of oxidative stress due to reactive oxygen species under the supervision of Prof. Andrew Kellett.

Shanshan Du

Shanshan Du

Doctoral Candidate

Shanshan obtained a BSc in Biology and MSc in Physiology at Hebei Normal University, China. She has spent some time working as a TEM technician at Tsinghua University. Her research area is stem cell research, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Shanshan is working under the supervision of Prof. Timothy O’Brien and Dr Dimitrios Zeugolis.

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Shima Shapoori

Shima Shapoori

Doctoral Candidate

Shima Obtained her B.Sc. in General Biology and her M.Sc. in Medical Immunology from Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Her Ph.D. Project is focused on diagnostic biomarkers and the development of a point-of-care device for Multiple Sclerosis patients, under the supervision of Dr. Una Fitzgerald. She is funded by Irish Research Council (IRC).

Sogol Kianersi

Sogol Kianersi

Doctoral Candidate

Sweety Evangeli Malli

Sweety Evangeli Malli

Doctoral Candidate

Sweety Evangeli Malli received a Bachelor of pharmacy (B.Pharm) from Guru Nanak Institute of Technical Campus, Hyderabad and MS.Pharm in Medical Devices from National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research-Ahmedabad (NIPER-A), India. Before pursuing her PhD, she holds an experience in Regulatory for Medical Devices & Research in Tissue Regeneration. Her research interest focuses on Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Biomaterials for unmet medical needs. In CURUM, Sweety Evangeli will be working on preparing the Hydrogels for targeting the Cardiac Repair after Myocardial Infarction under the supervision of Prof Abhay Pandit.

Tahmineh Ghahri

Tahmineh Ghahri

Doctoral Candidate

Yağmur Bozkurt

Yağmur Bozkurt

Doctoral Candidate

Yagmur received her BSc degree in Genetics and Bioengineering and her MSc in Bioengineering in Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul. Her main research interests comprises biomaterials, drug delivery systems and their application in medicine. Currently she is working in the PMSMatTrain Project under the supervision of Prof. Abhay Pandit at CÚRAM.