Metadata
Title
The UCD STEM Challenge Fund
Category
general
UUID
e1a013a96748405ca60676fd2813770d
Source URL
https://www.ucd.ie/science/research/theucdstemchallengefund/
Parent URL
https://www.ucd.ie/science/
Crawl Time
2026-03-23T20:07:12+00:00
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The UCD STEM Challenge Fund

Source: https://www.ucd.ie/science/research/theucdstemchallengefund/ Parent: https://www.ucd.ie/science/

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.

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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

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