Alumni
John Mbunga
John Mbunga, was a M.A.I student studying Biomedical Engineering at Trinity College Dublin. He joined the lab to fabricate and characterise silk based electro-conductive hydrogels with tunable properties. John had previously obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical engineering in Trinity College Dublin in the year 2023.
jay cui
Jay Cui, have worked in the financial industry in China for ten years. He moved to Ireland two years ago. He joined Monaghan lab as a administrator on an IRC New foundations Project with CRY Ireland.
Bobby (Robert) McCarthy
Robert was an M.A.I student in Biomedical Engineering at Trinity College Dublin. Robert joined the Monaghan Lab to complete his master’s research project investigating the use of melt electrowriting to fabricate a cardiac patch with piezoelectric properties and synclastic curvature.
Dr Nuno Neto
Nuno joined the lab in 2018 to conduct his PhD in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering under Dr. Monaghan's supervision. He was awarded his BSc at Universidade Nova de Lisboa and his MSc at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) under the supervision of Dr. Vanda Vaz Serra at the lab of Professor Sílvia M.B. Costa. His previous research was based on the interaction of porphyrins with polyelectrolyte microcapsules envisaging cancer therapy. Here, he came in contact not only with cancer biology but also with photochemical and photophysical processes analysed by several techniques such as UV-Vis absorption, Steady-state and Time-resolved fluorescence and FLIM. His efforts culminated with a graduation at the top of the class and a Merit diploma from IST. At the present his research is focussed on advanced non-invasive (multiphoton and FLIM) techniques in collaboration with Trinity Centre for Bioengineering, Trinity Translational Medicine Institute and St. James’ Hospital.
Emai: neton@tcd.ie
EMER LYSTER
Emer was a MAI Biomedical Engineering student at Trinity College Dublin, who is carrying out her final Masters project with the Monaghan lab.
Her previous experience internships within the Medical Device Design lab in TCD and with Cerenovus, a biomedical device company. She is eager to expand her skill within the Bioengineering field and looking forward to seeing where this year will take her.
Giuseppe Asaro
Giuseppe was a Research Assistant in the group and previously a Biomedical Engineering student at Politecnico di Torino. He spent March - August 21 conducting his MSc in Biomedical Engineering at the lab, and returned in 2022 to work on 2D nanomaterials for tissue engineering applications.
Dr Sinead O’Rourke
Sinead has joined us as a PhD candidate in 2018/19. She has previously received a bachelor of science in Molecular medicine at Trinity college dublin. During this time she was introduced to the field of bioengineering with her research project focusing on the assessment of the immune response to traditional and novel biomaterials of orthopaedic implants with Prof. Aisling Dunne.
Her research at present involves the generation of functional myocardium organoids and assessing the role of macrophages in this process, between Trinity Centre for Bioengineering and the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at TCD.
Email: siorourk@tcd.ie
Dr Matteo Solazzo
Matteo joined us in 2017/2018 when he began his PhD in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering under Dr. Monaghan's supervision.
Since January 2022 he is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the group after completing his PhD studies and preparing for his viva voce.
He was awarded his BSc and MSc in Biomedical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano. During his Masters Thesis, Matteo performed his thesis research in the laboratory of Prof. William Wagner at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine under the supervision of Prof. Antonio D'Amore.
Email: solazzom@tcd.ie
Dr Dinorath Olvera
Dinorath was our main lead on an Innovation Partnership Program with Spraybase® from March 2018. She completed her PhD thesis in the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering in Trinity College Dublin under the supervision of Prof. Danny Kelly. Her doctoral research focused on developing a fibre reinforced hydrogel to engineer the interface between soft and hard tissue. Dinorath was awarded an Irish Research Council scholarship to carry out her PhD studies. She graduated with first class honours from Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM), Mexico and was a recipient of the Discovery Scholarship from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia to pursue a M.Sc. in Chemical and Biological Engineering. She has participated as an intern in the Research Chair of Biomedical Devices in ITESM and in the Department of Orthopaedics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she worked on cornea tissue engineering and mechanical testing of soft tissues, respectively. During her time she developed novel scaffolds in tissue engineering through additive manufacturing and polymer chemistry.
Email: olverad@tcd.ie
Jack Murphy
Jack is pursing his B.A.I in biomedical engineering at Trinity College Dublin. Prior to moving to Dublin he conducted research relating to the fields of tissue engineering and cardiac regeneration in the Costa Lab at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York City. Jack joins the Monaghan Lab as a part-time student assistant. Check out his website!
Shane Myles O’Carroll
Shane received his BSc (Hons) in biochemistry at University College Cork. His thesis project involved the fabrication of bio-organic cellulose scaffolds linked to multi-parametric (pH, calcium and oxygen) fluorescent protein-biosensors. Shane is also an AMGEN scholar with the Pasteur Institute, Paris. This research involved the immunization, expression and purification of VHH-only nanobodies via phage display. Shane is to begin his MSc in immunology in September with further aspirations in a PhD.
Shane is joining the lab as a student research assistant for the summer.
Email: ocarrosh@tcd.ie
SONG WONG
Song joined the Monaghan Lab in September 2017 as part of the MAI course in Engineering with Management. Her research includes designing and producing a bioreactor system that can apply physiological pressures to hydrogels.
CIARA CORCORan
Ciara joined from Trinity College Dublin in 2017/2018 where she completed her MAI in Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering.
Lucie Cerna
Lucie received her Master degree in Clinical Bioanalytics at University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague (Czech Republic) recently. In last two years, she was working on drug development at Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Science. Her master thesis deals with enzymatic production of cyclic dinucleotides, which can be used for activation of adaptive immune system. She joins the lab for a IAESTE summer internship.
Laura Lardner
Laura undertook an M.A.I in Biomedical Engineering at Trinity College Dublin. She joined the Monaghan Lab to conduct research surrounding the Melt Electro-Writing technique. In particular she is focused on optimising the printing parameters for various biomaterials.
Laura Catherine O'Keeffe
Laura received her Bachelor of Science at McGill University, Canada, where she focused on biological chemistry and pure mathematics. She is now working toward an MSc. in Biomedical Engineering and has joined the Monaghan lab to carry out research in conductive, printable gels for cardiac applications.
Cesare di Nitto
Cesare received his bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering at Campus Biomedico di Roma, Italy. He worked on the implementation of the mathematical model to simulate the interaction between cancer cells and agents of the immune response together with chemotherapeutic drugs.
To date, he is currently attending the MSc Program in Biomedical Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano. He joins Monaghan’s Lab for his Master Thesis.
ELISA VALGUARNERA
Elisa received her bachelor in Biomedical Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, where she learned the basic knowledge of engineering applied to molecular biology.
She attended MSc in Biomedical Engineering with specialization in Cells, Tissues, and Biotechnologies at Politecnico di Milano, focusing on cellular behavior and implantable biomaterials. Driven by her interest in regenerative medicine, she asked to join Monaghan's Lab for her master thesis.
Simone Perottoni
Simone received the Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano; during the thesis he worked on calcium phosphate coatings added with antibacterial agents to fight prosthesis infections.
MATTEO ARLOTTI
Matteo received his Bachelor Of Science in Biomedical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, Italy, with a thesis regarding the computational simulation of ring tests on saphenous veins to evaluate their compliance.
He is studying for an MSc in Biomedicale Engineering at Politecnico di Milan and, due to high interest in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, he joined the Monaghan Lab.
Gaëtan ROUDIER
Gaëtan obtained a BSc in Biochemistry at the University of Bordeaux, during which he discovered the vast field of tissue engineering. Attracted by multidisciplinarity and driven by his will to tackle health problems, he decided to pursue a Master's degree in Health Engineering, with a specialization in Biomaterials, still in Bordeaux. He joined us in the lab for his Masters Thesis which he successfully completed in June 2018.
Issac John
Isaac completed a Bachelors degree in Biomedical engineering at Trinity College Dublin. This year he will be completing my MAI as well in Trinity.
CIARA GREANEY
Ciara studied at The National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) for the last 4 years where she received a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science. Her research project focused on therapies for oral cancer. She has always had an interest in physics having studied it in first and second year, and with her experience in tissue culture she decided that the MSc in Bioengineering was a route in which she could combine both fields.
daniel diez clarke
Daniel Diez Clarke, was an incoming 4th year Biomedical Engineering student in Trinity College Dublin. He joined the Monaghan lab as a student intern since the summer of 2023 in order to conduct research in the field of tissue engineering. His work was supported by the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young- CRY Ireland.
Reuben Strunz
Reuben Strunz, was an M.A.I student in biomedical Engineering. As part of his 4th year he had just completed his placement in Cerenovus Galway where he learned a lot about the diagnosis and treatment of CVDs. He is from Killaloe Co. Clare, and he loves watersports including sailing, swimming and SCUBA diving.
Connor Darroch
Conor was a MSc Biomedical Engineering student, carrying on from his BSc in Medical Physics at TUD in Dublin. He joined the Monaghan lab to conduct his research project on the functionalisation of tissue engineering scaffolds with MXene nanoparticles.
Prithi Balasubramani
Prithi Balasubramani was an MSc student in Biomedical Engineering (Tissue Engineering ) at Trinity College Dublin. She received her bachelors in Biomedical Engineering from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. Prithi joined Monaghan Lab to carry out her master’s thesis on Approaches in Ameliorating Inflammation and Wound Repair.
Minaal Billavara
Minaal Billavara was an M.A.I Biomedical engineering student in Trinity College Dublin. He joined the Monaghan lab in 2022 to undertake his M.A.I project. His project involves researching and developing piezoresistive sensors for biomedical applications.
Francesco Digeronimo
Francesco was an M.A.I Biomedical Engineering student at Trinity College Dublin, and joined the Monaghan Lab to carry out his final year project on MXenes.
He has previous experience as a research assistant in Technische Universität Dresden and with Starling Surgical, a biomedical device company. He is passionate about the biomaterial field and wants to seize all opportunities to learn more about it.
Ciaran Kelleher
Ciarán was an MAI Engineering with Management student at Trinity College Dublin. Ciarán has joined the Monaghan Lab to carry out his Masters Project on developing a new generation of Piezoresistive sensors (PRS) using piezo-resistive materials for recording physiological signals
Holly Leech
Holly was currently pursuing an M.A.I. in Biomedical Engineering at Trinity College Dublin, continuing on from completing a B.A.I. in Biomedical Engineering in 2021. Holly joined the Monaghan lab to conduct her master’s research project to investigate melt electrowriting to produce biomaterial scaffolds with varying curvatures.
Cole O’Connor
Cole was a MSc student in Biomedical Engineering and has undertaken the Medical Device Design stream. He carried out his masters thesis on electrical field stimulation’s role in inflammation and wound healing.
Linette Hartzell
Linette was pursuing an M.A.I. in Biomedical Engineering at Trinity College Dublin. In 2020 she completed an internship focused on the neurocardiovascular risk factors associated with falls and syncope at the Biomedical Engineering Laboratory of Mercer's Institute for Successful Ageing under the supervision of Dr. Ciarán Finucane. She joined the Monaghan lab to carry out her Master's thesis, which involves the fabrication and electromechanical characterization of PEDOT:PSS based sponges for biomedical sensor applications.
Orla Keenan
Orla is currently pursuing her B.A.I in Biomedical Engineering at Trinity College Dublin. She has joined the Monaghan Lab to carry out her thesis involving the control of electrostatic densities in the Melt ElectroWriting of synclastic biomaterial scaffolds
Rory Nairn
Rory is an M.A.I Biomedical Engineering student at Trinity College Dublin. He has now joined the Monaghan Lab to carry out his Masters Project using melt electrospinning writing towards designs mimicking biological structures.
Ciara O'Farrell
Ciara is a M.A.I Bioengineering student in Trinity College. Ciara joined the Monaghan Lab to carry out her Masters Project into the investigation of the electromechanical response of PEDOT based sponges for biomedical sensor applications.
Dr Ghazal Tadayyon
Ghazal joined as a research fellow on an Innovation Partnership Program with Spraybase® from May 2019-April 2020. Her primary research interest is in the area of smart materials, 3D-printing, polymer synthesis, shape memory and structure-property characterization. Her project is developing the geometrically Defined 3D Biomaterials.
Uttariyo Saha
Uttariyo completed his master's thesis in 2021, which involved predictive design and fabrication of smart biomaterial patches using melt-electrowriting. He graduated in Fall 20' with a Bachelor's degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering and completed his Bachelor's thesis at the Advanced Production Engineering Lab in the University of Groningen, Netherlands. His research interests include biomedical applications with nanotechnology, flexible electronics, sensors & 3D-printing.
ROBERT GREENSMITH
Robert completed his BAI in Biomedical Engineering in Trinity College Dublin. conducted a qualitative and quantitative analysis of fibrosis in porcine myocardium following biomaterial treatment post myocardial infarction for his final Bachelors thesis at the Monaghan Lab.
Ellie Conheady
Ellie received her BSc in pharmacology from University College Dublin where she carried out research into printable chitosan hydrogels using liquid-phase 3D printing. She is now pursuing an MSc. in Biomedical Engineering and joins the Monaghan lab to carry out her Masters thesis in printable, electro conductive inks for cardiac tissue regeneration.
Jackson Rose
Jackson joined from Trinity Collage Dublin in 2016/2017, where he completed his MAI in Biomedical Engineering
Thomas Storwick
Thomas joined us in 2017 as an intern from the University of Waterloo, Canada, where he is a BASC candidate in Nanotechnology Engineering
Maryla Oshodi
Maryla is an M.A.I Biomedical Engineering student at Trinity College Dublin. She has now joined "The Monaghan Lab" to carry out her Masters Project. This work involves using melt electropsinning writing to develop a piezoelectric cardiac patch with synclastic curvature to promote cardiac regeneration.
Mina Sohrabi-Zadeh
Mina completed her BAI in Biomedical Engineering at Trinity College Dublin in 2018. She is completing her MAI in Biomedical Engineering and is currently working towards her thesis.
Alejandro Reina Mahecha
Alejandro received his Bachelor degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2017 through an associate agreement between the Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería (Colombia), the University of the Rosary (Colombia) and the Poliyhecnic University of Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain). He is currently pursuing his Master’s degree of Common European Master’s Course in Biomedical Engineering (CEMACUBE) thanks to an associate agreement between the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and the Trinity College Dublin. He is specialized in neuro- and biomechanics, tissue engineering and has extended knowledge in programing languages (especially Matlab).
Email: reinamam@tcd.ie
GRACE Brogan
Grace comes from a biology background having earned a Bachelor of science in Microbiology and a Diploma in Biotechnology. While working towards her diploma she was introduced to tissue engineering and, in particular, working with heart tissue. She joined us in 2017/2018 where she is working toward her MSc. in Bioengineering.
CAROLINE PATEL
Caroline conducted her MSc in Bioengineering research thesis in the Monaghan Lab.