Success for School of Physical Sciences in Naughton Research Experience Fellowship

Two DCU Faculty of Science and Health students have been announced as this year’s recipients of the prestigious Naughton Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Fellowship, which is offered by the Naughton Foundation based at Notre Dame in the US. Ciara Walsh, School of Biotechnology and Luis Alberto Canizares, School of Physical Sciences will travel to Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana this summer to start their ten week placement.

Ciara Walsh is a second year student of Genetics and Cell Biology in Dublin City University's Faculty of Science and Health. Upon arrival at Notre Dame, Ciara will be working with Prof Patricia Champion at the University of Notre Dame on her project "Identification of novel virulence mechanisms in pathogenic Mycobacteria". Prof Champion is working with the bacterial strain that causes Tuberculosis, and analyzing exactly how the bacteria cause the disease by transporting bacterial proteins into the host (human). Ciara will be working with Prof Champion to identify potential genes involved in protein transport, and using gene knock-out technology to delete genes and investigate the results.

Luis Alberto Canazares is a second year student of Physics with Astronomy at DCU. In Notre Dame, Alberto will be working on the investigation of cataclysmic variables and novae explosions that occur periodically in the atmosphere of certain dying stars called white dwarfs.

The Faculty of Science and Health will also welcome Notre Dame student Leigh Campbell to DCU this summer to work with Tim Downing, School of Biotechnology on his research project "Is there an app for that - are microbiomes an “app store” for drug resistance genes?"