Latest News

March 2021

Recent Journal Publications

• John Redmond published his first review paper from his PhD studies entitled "Advances in biofabrication techniques for collagen-based 3D in vitro culture models for breast cancer research" in Materials Science and Engineering:C.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen’s University Belfast publish a technical research paper in International Journal of Pharmaceutics entitled "Rational design and characterisation of an amphipathic cell penetrating peptide for non-viral gene delivery". 

Feburary 2021

• Badriah Ali published her first technical paper from her MSc studies entitled "Hydroxyapatite sonosensitization of ultrasound‐triggered, thermally responsive hydrogels: An on‐demand delivery system for bone repair applications" in Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen’s University Belfast publish a technical research paper entitled “Design of a novel electrospun PVA platform for gene therapy applications using the CHAT peptide" in International Journal of Pharmaceutics.
• Dr Garrett McGuinness and Professor Paul Cahill publish a technical research paper entitled “Effect of electrospinning parameters on the mechanical and morphological characteristics of small diameter PCL tissue engineered blood vessel scaffolds having distinct micro and nano fibre populations – A DOE approach" in Polymer Testing.

January 2021

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Comillas Pontifical University and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid publish a technical research paper entitled "Advanced G-MPS-PMMA bone cements: Influence of graphene silanisation on fatigue performance, thermal properties and biocompatibility" in Nanomaterials.

December 2020

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast and Musgrave Park Hospital publish a technical research paper entitled "Influence of preoperative femoral orientation on radiographic measures of femoral head height in total hip replacement" in Clinical Biomechanics.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast, Trinity College Dublin, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and University of Massachusetts Amherst publish a technical research paper entitled "Improving the intercellular uptake and osteogenic potency of calcium phosphate via nanocomplexation with the RALA peptide" in Nanomaterials.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast publish a technical research paper entitled "Exploiting the anticancer effects of a nitrogen bisphosphonate nanomedicine for glioblastoma multiforme" in Nanobiotechnology.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast and University of Nottingham publish a technical research paper entitled "Binder jetting additive manufacturing of hydroxyapatite powders: Effects of adhesives on geometrical accuracy and green compressive strength" in Additive Manufacturing.
• Dr Owen Clarkin and collaborators from Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin publish a technical research paper entitled "Comprehensive assessment of spatter material generated during selective laser melting of stainless steel" in Materials Today Communications.

November 2020

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland publish a technical research paper entitled "Rational design and characterisation of a linear cell penetrating peptide for non-viral gene delivery" in Journal of Controlled Release.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast publish a technical research paper entitled "Incorporation of poultry eggshell and litter ash as high loading polymer fillers in polypropylene" in Composites Part C: Open Access.

September 2020

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from China Medical University, Chinese Academy of Science and Beihang University publish a technical research paper entitled "Improved osteogenic differentiation of human amniotic mesenchymal stem cells on gradient nanostructured Ti surface" in Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Trinity College Dublin and Queen's University of Belfast publish a technical research paper entitled "Collagen/GAG scaffolds activated by RALA-siMMP-9 complexes with potential for improved diabetic foot ulcer healing" in Materials Science and Engineering:C.

August 2020

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Beihang University (China) publish a technical research paper entitled "Applications of materials for dural reconstruction in pre-clinical and clinical studies: Advantages and drawbacks, efficacy, and selections" in Materials Science and Engineering:C.

May 2020

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast publish a technical research paper entitled "Electrospinning of natural polymers for the production of nanofibres for wound healing applications" in Materials Science and Engineering:C.

March 2020

• Dr Owen Clarkin and collaborators from Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, Jožef Stefan Institute and  Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University publish a technical research paper entitled "Development of BMG-B2 nanocomposite structure in HAZ during laser surface processing of ZrCuNiAlTi bulk metallic glasses" in Applied Surface Science.

January 2020

• Dr Tanya Levingstone and collaborators from Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland publish a technical research paper entitled "Biofunctional materials for bone and cartilage tissue engineering" in Reference Module in Materials Science and Materials Engineering.
• Dr Garrett McGuinness and Professor Paul Cahill publish a book chapter "Cardiovascular tissue engineering" in the Woodhead book titled "Biomaterials for Organ and Tissue Regeneration".
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Universidad Pontificia Comillas (Spain) publish a technical research paper entitled "Advances in biodegradable 3D printed scaffolds with carbon-based nanomaterials for bone regeneration" in Materials.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast publish a technical research paper entitled "Synthesis and evaluation of a thermoresponsive degradable chitosan-grafted PNIPAAm hydrogel as a “smart” gene delivery system" in Materials.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast publish a technical research paper entitled "Calcium phosphate nanoparticles-based systems for RNAi delivery: Applications in bone tissue regeneration" in Nanomaterials.

December 2019

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland publish a technical research paper entitled "Delivery of RALA/siFKBPL nanoparticles via electrospun bilayer nanofibres: An innovative angiogenic therapy for wound repair" in Journal of Controlled Release.

November 2019

• Dr Tanya Levingstone and collaborators publish a technical research paper entitled "Calcium phosphate nanoparticles for therapeutic applications in bone regeneration" in Nanomaterials.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Universidad Pontificia Comillas publish a technical research paper entitled "Graphene and graphene oxide functionalisation with silanes for advanced dispersion and reinforcement of PMMA-based bone cements" in Materials Science and Engineering: C.
• Dr Tanya Levingstone and collaborators publish a technical research paper entitled "Robust epidermal tattoo electrode platform for skin physiology monitoring" in Analytical Methods.

October 2019

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Beihang University publish a technical research paper entitled "Applications of carbon nanotubes in bone tissue regeneration and engineering: superiority, concerns, current advancements, and prospects" in Nanomaterials.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Beihang University, Hospital of Southern Medical University and Queen's University Belfast publish a technical research paper entitled "Incorporation of multi-walled carbon nanotubes to PMMA bone cement improves cytocompatibility and osseointegration" in Materials Science and Engineering: C.
• Dr Owen Clarkin and collaborators from Ryerson University, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute and Canadian Blood Services Centre for Innovation publish a technical research paper entitled "The effect of tantalum incorporation on the physical and chemical properties of ternary silicon–calcium–phosphorous mesoporous bioactive glasses" in Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials.
• Dr Garrett McGuinness and collaborators from Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro publish a technical research paper entitled "Alginate hydrogels incorporating neomycin or propolis as potential dressings for diabetic ulcers: Structure, swelling, and antimicrobial barrier properties" in Polymers for Advanced Technologies.

September 2019

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from University Ulster, Queen's University Belfast and University of Southampton publish a technical research paper entitled "Nanocomposite-coated porous templates for engineered bone scaffolds: A parametric study of layer-by-layer assembly conditions" in Biomedical Materials.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast, University of British Columbia, University College Cork and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland publish a technical research paper entitled "DNA vaccination via RALA nanoparticles in a microneedle delivery system induces a potent immune response against the endogenous prostate cancer stem cell antigen" in Acta Biomaterialia.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast publish a technical research paper entitled "Characterisation and constitutive modelling of biaxially stretched poly (L-lactic acid) sheet for application in coronary stents" in Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials.

August 2019

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast publish a technical research paper entitled "Multi-objective optimisation of material properties and strut geometry for poly (L-lactic acid) coronary stents using response surface methodology" in PloS One.
• Dr Owen Clarkin, Professor Paul Cahill and collaborators from European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin and  KU Leuven publish a technical research paper entitled "Novel injectable gallium-based self-setting glass-alginate hydrogel composite for cardiovascular tissue engineering" in Carbohydrate Polymers.

July 2019

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Beihang University and Central South University publish a technical research paper entitled "Peptide‐modified bone repair materials: Factors influencing osteogenic activity" in Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A.

May 2019

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Trinity College Dublin, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Queen's University Belfast publish a technical research paper entitled "Pore-forming bioinks to enable spatio-temporally defined gene delivery in bioprinted tissues" in Journal of Controlled Release.

April 2019

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Trinity College Dublin, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Case Western Reserve University, Colorado State University and Queen's University Belfast publish a technical research paper entitled "Hypoxia mimicking hydrogels to regulate the fate of transplanted stem cells" in Acta Biomaterialia.

February 2019

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast and Musgrave Park Hospital publish a technical research paper entitled "Operative and radiographic acetabular component orientation in total hip replacement: Influence of pelvic orientation and surgical positioning technique" in Medical Engineering & Physics.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast publish a technical research paper entitled "Influence of alginate backbone on efficacy of thermo-responsive alginate-gP (NIPAAm) hydrogel as a vehicle for sustained and controlled gene delivery" in Materials Science and Engineering: C.
• Dr Owen Clarkin and collaborators from Ryerson University and Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute publish a technical research paper entitled "The effect of calcination rate on the structure of mesoporous bioactive glasses" in Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology.

January 2019

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Universidad Pontificia Comillas and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid publish a technical research paper entitled "Graphene oxide and graphene reinforced PMMA bone cements: Evaluation of thermal properties and biocompatibility" in Materials.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Beihang University publish a technical research paper entitled "Biomechanical studies on biomaterial degradation and co-cultured cells: mechanisms, potential applications, challenges and prospects" in Journal of Materials Chemistry B.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast publish a book chapter "Emerging areas of bone repair materials: nucleic acid therapy and drug delivery" in the book titled "Bone Repair Biomaterials".
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast and Musgrave Park Hospital publish a technical research paper entitled "Patient positioning and cup orientation during total hip arthroplasty: assessment of current UK practice" in Hip International.
• Dr Tanya Levingstone and collaborators from Trinity College Dublin, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and University College Dublin publish a technical research paper entitled "Tissue-specific extracellular matrix scaffolds for the regeneration of spatially complex musculoskeletal tissues" in Biomaterials.
• Dr Garrett McGuinness and collaborators from UFRRJ and Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation publish a technical research paper entitled "Physically cross-linked gels of PVA with natural polymers as matrices for manuka honey release in wound-care applications" in Materials.
• Dr Garrett McGuinness and collaborators from UFRRJ publish a technical research paper entitled "Blended gels of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose incorporating antimicrobials for absorbance and wound healing applications" in Cellulose-Based Superabsorbent Hydrogels.

July 2018

8^th World Congress of Biomechanics in Dublin

Professor Nicholas Dunne was involved in two oral podium presentations and one poster through his collaboration with Nottingham University, Queen’s University of Belfast and the Belfast Arthroplasty Research Trust. The oral podium presentations were presented by Prof Dunne (3D ceramic scaffolds for bone tissue engineered applications), Ross Blair (Processing-property investigations of PLLA-based coronary stents) and the poster was presented by John O’Connor (Incorporating Geometry from Radiographs in Musculoskeletal Models Influences Prediction of Hip Loading).

Professor Nicholas Dunne and Dr. Tanya Levingstone also co-chaired two session at the 8th World Congress of Biomechanics on the theme of “Multiscale Biomechanics of Scaffolds”. The session was listed as part of the Tissue Engineering Track, which was led by Professor Carlijn VC Bouten, Professor of Cell-Matrix Interaction, from the Soft Tissue Engineering & Mechanobiology group at Eindhoven University. Invited talks during the sessions were by Prof Matt Dalby and Prof Manuel Salmeron-Sanchez (both of University of Glasgow) and Dr. Hanna Isaksson of Lund University) Dalby and Salmeron-Sanchez spoke on the topics of “Nanokick: stimulation of osteogenesis by mesenchymal stem cells using a nanovibrational bioreactor” and “Dynamic microenvironments to promote integrin and growth factor receptor signalling in cell engineering”. Isaksson showcased the work her lab is doing on “Regenerating bone with biomimetic scaffolds in large defects”.

Recent Journal Publication

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen’s University Belfast have published a research paper entitled “Processing-property relationships of biaxially stretched poly (L-lactic acid) sheet for application in coronary stents” in Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials.

June 2018

Recent Journal Publications

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen’s University Belfast and Belfast Arthroplasty Research Trust have published a research paper entitled “Effect of combined flexion and external rotation on measurements of the proximal femur from anteroposterior pelvic radiographs” in Orthopaedics & Traumatology: Surgery & Research.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen’s University Belfast have published a book chapter entitled “DNA vaccination for cervical cancer: Strategic optimisation of RALA mediated gene delivery from a biodegradable microneedle system” in a book by Wiley entitled “Microneedles for Drug and Vaccine Delivery and Patient Monitoring”.

 PhD Defense

Congratulations to John O’Connor (of Queen’s University Belfast) on the successful defense of his PhD thesis, which investigated population-level variability in biomechanical modelling of total hip replacement. John was supervised by Dr. Alex Lennon (of Queen’s University Belfast), Prof Nicholas Dunne, Prof David Beverland and Dr. Janet Hill (both of the Belfast Arthroplasty Research Trust)

May 2018

Recent Journal Publication

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen’s University Belfast and Belfast Arthroplasty Research Trust have published a research paper entitled “Patient positioning and cup orientation during total hip arthroplasty: assessment of current UK practice” in Hip International.

PhD Defense

Congratulations to Jonathan Acheson (of Queen’s University Belfast) on the successful defense of his PhD thesis, which focused on the optimisation of layer-by-layer assembled nanocomposite coated foams in terms of their hydrated properties in biomedical applications. Jonathan was supervised by Dr. Andrew Hamilton (of Southampton University), Prof Nicholas Dunne and Dr. Alex Lennon (of Queen’s University Belfast).

April 2018

Recent Journal Publication

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen’s University Belfast and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland have published a research paper entitled “Gene therapy with RALA/iNOS composite nanoparticles significantly enhances survival in a model of metastatic prostate cancer” in Cancer Nanotechnology.

PhD Defense

Congratulations to Chiara MacBhrien (of Queen’s University Belfast) on the successful defense of her PhD thesis, which focused on the investigation of carbon nanotube reinforced bone cement fatigue in orthopaedic implants. Chiara was supervised by Professor Nicholas Dunne and Dr. Alex Lennon (of Queen’s University Belfast).

March 2018 

Recent Journal Publication

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen’s University Belfast and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland have published a research paper entitled “DNA vaccination for cervical cancer: Strategic optimisation of RALA mediated gene delivery from a biodegradable microneedle system” in the European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics. 

Recent Book Chapter Publication

Professor Nicholas Dunne and Professor Helen McCarthy of Queen's University Belfast have published a book chapter entitled "Hydrogels for Bone Regeneration" in the CRC Press publication "Hydrogels: Design, Synthesis and Application in Drug Delivery and Regenerative Medicine". 

Successful H2020 Grant Award

MEDeng is delighted to be leading a work package in the new €8m H2020 project PANBioRA (Personalised and/or Generalised Integrated Biomaterial Risk Assessment).  Dr. Garrett McGuinness of MEDeng and Dr. Harry Esmonde of the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering will lead the DCU involvement. PANBioRA aims to provide a comprehensive solution for the time- and cost-effective risk assessment of: (i) new biomaterials under health or disease states or (ii) a given biomaterial for each patient in a personalised manner. It will standardise the evaluation of biomaterials and open the venue for pre-implantation, personalised diagnostics for biomaterial based applications. Updates and news at https://twitter.com/panbiora. 

February 2018

New Postgraduate Student

The MEDeng Centre would like to welcome Badriah Fma Ali to the DCU. Badriah will be working on the development of an ultrasound triggered, thermally responsive hydrogel as an on-demand delivery system for bone repair. This research will be undertaken as a MSc Research Scholarship, which is funded by the Kuwait Cultural Office.  Supervision on the research project will be provided by Dr. Tanya Levingstone and Professor Nicholas Dunne (both School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering) and Dr. Cathal Kearney from the Department of Anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Successful Grant Award

Congratulations to Professor Nicholas Dunne and Professor Helen McCarthy of Queen's University Belfast for securing a Medical Technologies IKC Industrial Partnership Proof of Concept award. The award will employ a post-doctoral researcher for 12 months to work on the development of a Class III medical device loaded with nanoparticles for enhanced in situ bone regeneration. The research project will be conducted in collaboration with PBC Biomed Ltd. (www.pbcbiomed.ie) and Mr David Beverland of Musgrave Park Hospital (Belfast) and Professor Cathal Moran of the Sports Surgery Clinic (Dublin).

Recent Journal Publications

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from the Key Laboratory for Biomechanics and Mechanobiology of Ministry of Education, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, Beihang University and the State Key Laboratory of New Ceramic and Fine Processing, Tsinghua University have published a review paper in Regenerative Biomaterials. 

Further information on the review paper entitled "Effect of microporosity on scaffolds for bone tissue engineering".

• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen's University Belfast, Athlone Institute of Technology, the Ceramic and Glass Institute (Spain) and the Rehabilitation Medicine Centre at the Mayo Clinic have published a research paper entitled "Composite cryogels for dual drug delivery and enhanced mechanical properties".

January 2018

Well done to everyone that gave oral presentations at the 24th Annual Conference of the Bioengineering section of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland (Bioengineering in Ireland 2018) - there were nine research studies presented involving PI's or postgraduate students from MEDeng through collaborative projects with Queen's University Belfast, Trinity College Dublin and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Special congratulations also go to Mr John Redmond and Mr Ross Blair who were awarded 'Biomaterials Track - Best Oral Presentation' prizes in the Early-stage and Mature-stage Researcher categories.

John is currently enrolled as a first-year postgraduate researcher in MME and his paper was entitled 'DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED BIOMIMETIC 3D CULTURE MODELS FOR BREAST CONCER RESEARCH'.  He is supervised by Prof Nicholas Dunne, Dr Tanya Levingstone and Dr Paul Buchanan (from Department: Nursing and Human Sciences) and is funded by the O'Hare Scholarship Fund.

Ross is a third-year researcher in the School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (QUB) and his paper was entitled 'PARAMETRIC OPTIMISATION OF A STRETCH BLOW MOULDED POLY(L-LACTIC ACID) CORONARY STENT'.  Ross is co-supervised by Prof Nicholas Dunne and is funded by the Department of Employability & Learning NI.

December 2017

Recent Journal Publications

• Dr. Owen Clarkin and collaborators from University of Limerick, Waterford Institute of Technology and Trinity College Dublin publish a technical research paper in Materials Science “Surface modification of a novel glass to optimise strength and deliverability of an injectable alginate composite”.
• Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen’s University Belfast publish a technical research paper in Materials Science and Engineering: C “Influence of alginate backbone on efficacy of thermo-responsive alginate-g-P(NIPAAm) hydrogel as a vehicle for sustained and controlled gene delivery”. 

November 2017

Recent Journal Publications

Dr. Owen Clarkin and collaborators from Ryerson University and University of Malaya publish a technical research paper in Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials “Quantifying the mode II critical strain energy release rate of borate bioactive glass coatings on Ti6Al4V substrates”

Dr. Owen Clarkin and collaborators from Trinity College Dublin publish a technical research paper in Journal of the Carbohydrate Polymers “Optimisation of a novel glass-alginate hydrogel for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms”.

Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen’s University Belfast, Trinity College Dublin and Colorado State University publish a technical research paper in Journal of the Macromolecular Bioscience “Polymerization of Poly(Alginate-Graft-N-Isopropylacrylamide) injectable thermoresponsive hydrogel with the potential for localized and sustained delivery of stem cells and bioactive molecules”.  

October 2017

PhD Defense  Congratulations to Sarah Brady on the successful defense of her PhD thesis, which focused on the optimisation of a novel glass-alginate hydrogel for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms. Sarah was supervised by Dr. Owen Clarkin.

September 2017

New Postgraduate Student

The MEDeng Centre would like to welcome John Redmond to the DCU. John will be working on the design, development and characterisation of engineering collagen‐based scaffolds for advanced ex vivo culture of breast tumours in a metastatic bone microenvironment. This research will be undertaken as part of a two-year O’Hare Postgraduate Research Scholarship, which is funded by the Faculty of Engineering and Computing (DCU). Supervision on the research project will be provided by Professor Nicholas Dunne and Dr. Tanya Levingstone (both School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering) and Dr. Paul Buchanan (School of Nursing, DCU)

BEAI Best Student Project and Presentation Award

Congratulations to Biomedical Engineering student Niall Connolly received the '2017 Best Student Project and Presentation Award' from the Biomedical & Clinical Engineering Association of Ireland (BEAI) for his Final Year Project entitled "Minimally invasive surgical device for cartilage repair". Niall’s Final Year Project was completed under the supervision of Dr. Tanya Levingstone.  A short paper describing the work will be published in the Spring 2018 edition of the BEAI's journal Spectrum.

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine Best Paper Award

Congratulations to Professor Nicholas Dunne and his collaborators from Queen’s University Belfast having their technical research paper entitled "Biocompatibility of calcium phosphate bone cement with optimised mechanical properties: an in vivo study" selected by Springer as the Best Paper Award for 2016 published in Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine. The award was presented at the European Society of Biomaterials 2017 meeting in Athens.

European Society of Biomaterials in Athens

Professor Nicholas Dunne was involved in four oral podium presentations and one posters through his collaboration with Queen’s University of Belfast. The oral podium presentations were presented by Eoghan Mullholland (Biomaterials for chronic wound treatment), Marine Chalanqui (Biomaterials in gene therapy) and Jonathan Acheson (Layer-by-layer deposition and self-assembly) and Dr. Susan Clarke (Ceramics).

August 2017

New Academic Lecturer joins MEDeng

MEDeng would like to welcome Dr. Tanya Levingstone to the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.  Dr. Levingstone’s research is focused on the development of collagen-based tissue engineering approaches for bone and cartilage repair. Dr. Levingstone’s was recently listed as one of Ireland’s top 25 phenomenal women of engineering.

June 2017



Recent Journal Publication

Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen’s University Belfast and publish a review paper in Molecular Therapy – Nucleic acid “microRNA as therapeutic targets for chronic wound healing”.

For more information click here



World Congress of Biomechanics 2018

Professor Nicholas Dunne and Dr. Tanya Levingstone are delighted to announce that they will be chairing a session at the 8th World Congress of Biomechanics (http://wcb2018.com/), which will be entitled “Multiscale Biomechanics of Scaffolds”. The session will be listed as part of the Tissue Engineering Track, which is being led by Professor Carlijn VC Bouten, Professor of Cell-Matrix Interaction, from the Soft Tissue Engineering & Mechanobiology group at Eindhoven University.

For more information click here



May 2017



Welcome International Interns

MEDeng would like to welcome two new international interns from the US - Philip Petrasko and Maryam Athar Khan.



Philip is currently in the second year of a Science-Business B.S. at Notre Dame University and was a recent recipient of a prestigious Naughton Scholarship (www.thenaughtonfoundation.com/scholarships). The focus of Philip’s internship is on the synthesis of ion-substitute ceramic based biomaterials and his supervisors are Professor Nicholas Dunne and Dr. Tanya Levingstone.



Maryam is currently studying Bioengineering at P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science in Lehigh University (Pennsylvania) and her internship is being funded through the Iacocca International Internship Program. During her time at DCU, Maryam will be designing and characterising stimuli-responsive polymer systems for bone tissue engineering applications and his supervisors are Professor Nicholas Dunne and Dr. Tanya Levingstone.

 

Recent Journal Publication

Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Trinity College Dublin, Queen’s University Belfast, and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland publish a paper in Acta Biomaterialia “Mesenchymal stem cell fate following non-viral gene transfection strongly depends on the choice of delivery vector”. 

For more information click here

April 2017

President's Awards for Innovation 2017

Congratulations to Dr. Owen Clarkin on winning the 2017 President’s Awards for Innovation (Academic & Research Category).  This Award is in recognition Dr. Clarkin’s research portfolio that is focused on the development of a minimally invasive solution for the treatment of brain aneurysms called ‘EnduraGel’. Dr. Clarkin and his team hope that this new technology will improve the clinical outcomes of patients with cerebral aneurysms and allows doctors to treat aneurysms currently thought to be untreatable.  Watch Owen describe his research https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TSQEmIgjlY

Tell it Straight 2017 Competition

Congratulations to Simona Herbaj on winning the Tell it Straight competition, which took place on the 19th April in the Helix. Simona beat stiff competition to win category one, which was for first year PhD students. The title of her presentation was 'Sticks and stones may break your bones, but here’s an ingeneous way to fix them.'



Tell it Straight is DCU's annual communication competition specifically designed to encourage postgraduate research students to communicate their research and its potential impact to a non-specialist audience in a concise, dynamic and innovative way, utilising current technology.



Recent Journal Publication

Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen’s University Belfast and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland publish a feature article in Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine “DNA vaccination for cervical cancer; A novel technology platform of RALA mediated gene delivery via polymeric microneedle”.

For more information click here

March 2017



Recent Journal Publications

Professor Nicholas Dunne published a number of great research papers this month with and collaborators from various university in Ireland, UK, Spain and the US. Specific details are below:



Molecular Therapy – Nucleic Acids “Systemic RALA/iNOS nanoparticles: A potent gene therapy for metastatic breast cancer coupled as a biomarker of treatment”.

For more information click here



Tissue Engineering Part A “Hierarchically structured electrospun scaffolds with chemically conjugated growth factor for ligament tissue engineering”.

For more information click here



Materials Science & Engineering C – “Graphene oxide versus graphene for optimisation of PMMA bone cement for orthopaedic applications”.

For more information click here

February 2017

Recent Journal Publication

Renata Nunes Oliveira, Garrett McGuinness and collaborators publish a paper on absorbent hydrogels in Polymer Engineering and Science "Absorbent polyvinyl alcohol–sodium carboxymethyl cellulose hydrogels for propolis delivery in wound healing applications"

For more inforamtion click here

January 2017



Recent Journal Publications

Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Queen’s University Belfast, RMS Foundation and Université Valencienne publish a paper in Advanced Healthcare Materials “Surrogate outcome measures of in vitro osteoclast resorption of β-tricalcium phosphate”.

For more information click here



Professor Nicholas Dunne and collaborators from Trinity College Dublin, Queen’s University Belfast, Colorado State University and Case Western Reserve University in Journal of Materials Chemistry B “RALA complexed α-TCP nanoparticle delivery to mesenchymal stem cells induces bone formation in tissue engineered constructs in vitro and in vivo”.

For more information click here



Bioengineering in Ireland24

At the recent BinI23 conference in Belfast, it was announced that MEDeng and Dublin City University will host Bioengineering in Ireland 2018. The conference is one of Ireland's longest-running and most active research conferences at the interface of engineering and health science. Regarding the news, Professor Dunne said “it is a great honour and privilege for MEDeng and DCU for the first time and we look forward to showcasing the high quality and excellent basic and applied research being conducted in Ireland”.



RSC Biomaterials

Invited talk by Garrett McGuinness at RSC Biomaterials Special Interest Group Conference.

McGuinness, G.B., O’Connor, R.A., Electrospinning of yarns for tissue engineering: system design issues and performance characteristics, RSC Biomaterials Special Interest Group Conference, Newtonabbey, Northern Ireland, January 11th and 12th 2017.

October 2016

Recent Journal Publication

Richard O' Connor and Garrett McGuinness publish a review paper in Proceedings of the I Mech E Part H " Electrospun nanofibre bundles and yarns for tissue engineering applications: A review"

For more information click here



September 2016



The MEDeng Centre would like to welcome Sonia Herbaj to the DCU. Sonia will be working on the design and development of an injectable biomaterial system for the repair and replacement of damaged or diseased hard bone tissue. This research will be undertaken as part of a four-year Government of Ireland Postgraduate Research Scholarship, which is funded by the Irish Research Council. Supervision on the research project will be provided by Professor Nicholas Dunne and Dr. Tanya Levingstone.



June 2016



Northern Ireland Biomedical Engineering Symposium 2016

Congratulations to Monika Ziminska (School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, QUB) and Eoghan Mullholland (School of Pharmacy, QUB) on winning the best overall paper and best young research awards at the recent Northern Ireland. Both students are co-supervised by Professor Nicholas Dunne of MEDeng.



May 2016



World Biomaterials Congress in Canada

Professor Nicholas Dunne was involved in four oral podium presentations and two posters through his collaboration with Queen’s University of Belfast. The oral podium presentations were presented by Philip Chambers (Biomaterials for therapeutic delivery), Marine Chalanqui (Biomaterials in gene therapy), Monika Ziminska (Layer-by-layer deposition and self-assembly) and Dr. Susan Clarke (Ceramics).



Professor Dunne was also at WBC 2016 as part of the executive committee of World Biomaterials Congress 2020 (http://www.wbc2020.org/), which will take place in Glasgow.



Recent Journal Publication

Well done to Professor Nicholas Dunne on his journal publication on the topic of three-dimensional printed porous structures that was recently published in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials in collaboration with Queen’s University of Belfast and University of Warwick.

For more information click here



April 2016



New Professor of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering joins MEDeng

We would like to welcome Professor Nicholas Dunne to Dublin City University and MEDeng as the Chair of School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. He will also be the MEDeng Director and School Research Convener.



Professor Dunne’s research programme lies at the interface of materials science, engineering and biology. His focus is on developing stratified approaches for the design, manufacture and characterisation of drug-biomaterial combination medical devices for musculoskeletal bone repair and regeneration.



Prior to this appointment, Professor Dunne was the Professor of Biomaterials Engineering at Queen’s University of Belfast. He has also held Joint-Directorship positions of the Advanced Materials and Processes Research Cluster and the Polymer Processing Research Centre at Queen’s University of Belfast.



Recent Journal Publication

Congratulations to Professor Nicholas Dunne on his recent journal publication relating to the extrusion of calcium phosphate cements in the Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine in collaboration with Queen’s University of Belfast, University of Cambridge and Technical University of Catalonia.

For more information click here



March 2016



Recent Journal Publication

Find out more about a recent review paper publication of Professor Nicholas Dunne’s on the topic of MiRNA 34a as a potential therapeutic target for castration-resistant prostate cancer. This paper was published in Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets in collaboration with Dr. Helen McCarthy from the School of Pharmacy at Queen’s University of Belfast.

For more information click here



Jan 2016

New Academic Lecturer joins MEDeng

MEDeng would like to welcome Dr. Owen Clarkin to the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.



Dr. Clarkin’s research background has focused on orthopaedic and dental biomaterials. However, recently his research focus has moved into hydrogel based composite materials for the treatment of vascular diseases, including cerebral aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations and dural fistulae.



Dr. Clarkin will also take on the role of Program Chair for the Biomedical Engineering undergraduate degree programme.