# 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.

[Email Enquiries](mailto:STEMinitiative@ucd.ie )

- [STEM Research Booklet](https://www.ucd.ie/eacollege/t4media/UCD_STEM_Research_Day_May_2025.pdf)
- [FAQs](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_lzPgd2sEmEwpCRkLSKZzd-Fqx1449Au_pNkta41D14/edit#gid=0)

### On This Page

- [Stem Challenge Funding Awardees - College of Engineering & Architecture](#h704487)
- [Stem Challenge Funding Awardees - College of Health and Agricultural Sciences](#h704492)
- [Stem Challenge Funding Awardees - College of Science](#h704472)
- [UCD STEM Challenge Fund Gallery](#h679684)

## 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 |

## UCD STEM Challenge Fund Gallery

[STEM Research Booklet
PDF |
709KB](https://www.ucd.ie/science/t4media/UCD_STEM_Research_Day_May_2025.pdf)

## UCD College of Science

Room E1.09/E2.09 UCD O'Brien Centre for Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
[Location Map](https://goo.gl/maps/YvCR9Q16k5W9xvup8 "Go to 'Location Map' page")