The UCD STEM Challenge Fund
The UCD STEM Challenge Fund is a joint initiative between the three UCD Colleges of Science, Engineering & Architecture, and Health & Agricultural Sciences to support highly collaborative and high-impact STEM research in UCD.
Stem Challenge Funding Awardees - College of Engineering & Architecture
| Project Lead | Proposal Title | Co-Investigator(s) | Total Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assoc Professor Junli Xu | Connecting the Dots: A One Health Perspective for Unravelling Micro- and Nanoplastic Bioaccumulation and Toxicodynamics |
Professor Breandán Kennedy, Professor Trudee Fair, Associate Professor David MacManus, Dr Nazan Altun, Dr Camilla Maria Fontana |
€18,851 |
| Dr Sara M. Esteves | Immunomodulatory Effects of Lipid Fractions from Agri-Food Waste-Grown Microalgae in Human Whole Blood |
Dr Eoin Brennan, Dr Martina Wallace, Dr Christopher Shannon |
€8,973 |
| Dr Roderick Jones | A zero-waste biorefinery combining novel amide chemistry with microalgae biotechnology for the sustainable co-production of pharmaceuticals and protein from low-value phosphorus. |
Assoc Professor Ronald Halim, Dr Peter Byrne | €5,000 |
| Mr Chanikya Valeti | Ventricular Flow Dynamics in Porcine and Human Hearts: Implications for Xenotransplantation. |
Assoc Professor Kathleen Curran, Professor Philip Cardiff, Professor Pieter Brama |
€7,339 |
| Assoc Professor David MacManus | Bridging spatial transcriptomics and brain mechanics for preclinical Alzheimer’s disease biomarker discovery - ADvance |
Dr Jeffrey Glennon |
€19,870 |
| Dr Budi Zhao | Bio-Mediated Improvement of Marine Sediments for Offshore Renewable Energy Foundations (Bio-Anchors) |
Dr Saoirse Tracy, Dr Shane Donohue, Professor Frank McDermott, Dr Mark Coughlan |
€9,967 |
| Dr Tianyu Guan | Enabling High-Throughput Exosome Sorting via Economical Polymer nano-separation devices |
Professor Breandán Kennedy, Associate Professor Nan Zhang, Dr Jia Ge, Dr Rijian Song |
€20,000 |
Stem Challenge Funding Awardees - College of Health and Agricultural Sciences
| Project Lead | Proposal Title | Co-Investigator(s) | Total Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Martina Wallace | Engineering Human Stellate Cell Models to Unlock Therapeutic Targets in Fibrosis and Cancer |
Dr Stephen Thorpe |
€9,900 |
| Dr Sarah Robertson | Scalable Bayesian Modular Response Analysis for Personalised Immunotherapy in Bladder Cancer |
Dr Luiza Piancastelli |
€19,964 |
| Dr Sofia Jäverfelt | Lectin-based microarrays for high-throughput mucus analysis |
Dr Carol Aherne, Dr Joseph Byrne |
€5,000 |
| Mr Yinghao Li | AI-Optimised Artificial Virus: A High-Efficiency, Stable, and Scalable Non-Viral Gene Delivery Platform |
Dr Jing Lyu, Mr Qiancheng Zhang, Dr Tianyu Guan, Dr Zhiran Wang | €10,500 |
| Dr Colm Ryan | Evaluating Paralog Rescue in Zebrafish Models of Human Disease |
Professor Breandán Kennedy, Dr Tess McCann |
€4,525 |
| Dr Carol Aherne | Dynamic hydrogels for gastrointestinal mucus modelling (DyhMM) |
Dr Zarah Walsh-Korb |
€10000 |
| Professor Amanda McCann | Threads of Discovery: Weaving Patients into the Fabric of Biomedical Research. |
Dr Arman Rahman, Assoc. Professor Niamh O'Sullivan, Professor Siobhán McClean, Ms Elaine Quinn, Dr Maria Prencipe, Dr Clare Reynolds, Dr Carol Aherne, Ms Anna Wedderburn, Dr Joanna Drabinska, Dr Claire Robinson |
€15,000 |
| Dr Laura McMahon | Polyhedral Respiratory Muscle Assessment in Parkinson’s Disease: The PReMA-PD Study. A comprehensive, novel assessment of respiratory muscle assessment in Parkinson’s Disease |
Assoc Professor Olive Lennon, Professor Madeleine Lowery, Dr Emer Doheny |
€15,111 |
Stem Challenge Funding Awardees - College of Science
| Project Lead | Proposal Title | Co-Investigator(s) | Total Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professor Breandán Kennedy | Bridging the Bio-Engineering Gap for Bruch's Membrane |
Professor Brian Rodriguez, Professor Aisling Ní Annaidh, Dr Stephen Thorpe, Professor Niamh Nowlan, Dr Tess McCann, Professor Michael Monaghan |
€9,966 |
| Dr Simone Marcone | Modelling Barrett’s Oesophagus and Microenvironmental Crosstalk in an Open-Chamber Organ-on-Chip |
Assoc Professor Gavin Stewart, Dr Stephen Thorpe, Dr Raghu Krishna Moorthy |
€20,000 |
| Assoc Professor Antoinette Perry | Advancing prostate cancer therapeutics through patient-derived explants |
Professor Breandán Kennedy, Assoc Professor Margaret McGee, Assoc Professor David Galvin, Assoc Professor Eoin O'Cearbhaill, Dr Jufan Zhang, Dr Maria Prencipe, Dr Nicola Fletcher | €17,500 |
| Dr Mario Manresa | Characterisation of markers and mechanisms of inflammatory memory in intestinal fibroblasts |
Dr Glen Doherty, Dr Eric Conway |
€12,534 |
| Dr Adam Kane | Pathogen Surveillance of Seabirds and Seals: Protecting Ireland’s Marine Ecosystems from Emerging Viral Threats |
Assoc Professor Barry John McMahon, Assoc Professor Hanne Jahns, Assoc Professor Virginie Gautier, Dr Tristan Russell, Ms Holly English |
€20,000 |
| Dr Camilla Maria Fontana | Fluorinated Pollutants: Developmental & Behavioural Impacts in Zebrafish |
Professor Breandán Kennedy, Professor Cormac Murphy, Dr Alison Reynolds, Dr Mohd Faheem Khan, Dr Gaurav Chugh |
€10,000 |
