Susan completed her degree in Medicinal Chemistry in Trinity College Dublin (2005), after which she carried out her PhD in Organic Chemistry (2009), as well as a short post-doc in biodegradable chewing gum, in University College Dublin (UCD). In 2010, she moved to the Technical University Berlin, where she worked on the nano- and micro- surface patterning of biomaterials and investigated the ability of these surfaces to influence cell behaviour. In 2012, Susan joined Dublin City University (DCU), where she worked for 2 years on the functionalisation of surfaces and nanoparticles for use in point-of-care devices, and in 2014, secured independent funding to begin her own research projects in the areas of bioresponsive materials, nanopatterning and biomimetic engineering. In October 2016, Susan was appointed Assistant Professor of Soft Materials in UCD School of Chemistry and set up the Nanostructured Biomaterials Group. In February 2021, the group moved to the School of Chemical Sciences in DCU. In October 2023, she was promoted to Associate Professor.
Peer Reviewed Journal
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Urbain Ndagano; Laura Cahill ; Ciara Smullen; Jennifer Gaughran; Susan M. Kelleher (2025) 'The Current State-of-the-Art of the Processes Involved in the Chemical Recycling of Textile Waste'. Molecules, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2024 | Jennie O Loughlin; Bevin Herward; Dylan Doherty; Purabi Bhagabati; Susan M. Kelleher; Samantha Fahy; Brian Freeland; Keith D. Rochfort; Jennifer Gaughran (2024) 'Bio-based polylactic acid labware as a sustainable alternative for microbial cultivation in life science laboratories'. Heliyon, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2024 | Doherty, D.; Rochfort, K.D.; Conaghan, M.; O'Loughlin, J.; Freeland, B.; Cooling, C.; Solola, D.; Brych, Y.; Kelleher, S.M.; Fahy, S.; Gaughran, J. (2024) 'Assessing the viability of 3D-printed poly(lactic acid) petri dishes: A sustainable alternative for laboratory use'. Sustainable Materials and Technologies, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2024 | Granget, C.; Manikandan, N.A.; Amulya, K.; Dabros, M.; Fahy, S.; Kelleher, S.M.; Rochfort, K.D.; Gaughran, J.; Freeland, B. (2024) 'Brewer's spent grain as a self-sufficient feedstock for homofermentative production of optically pure L-lactic acid using Lactobacillus rhamnosus'. ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2024 | McFadden, J.; Reid, G.; Podhorska, L.; Rodriguez, B.J.; Casey, E.; Kelleher, S.M. (2024) 'The Antibacterial Activity of Hierarchical Patterns of Nanostructured Silicon Fabricated Using Block Copolymer Micelle Lithography'. Advanced Engineering Materials, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2024 | Reid, G.; Podhorska, L.; Mc Fadden, J.; O'Connor, R.; Rodriguez, B.J.; Quinn, L.; Hiebner, D.; Casey, E.; Kelleher, S.M. (2024) 'Insights into the feature size required for the death of Pseudomonas fluorescens on nanostructured silicon fabricated by block copolymer lithography'. Materials Today Communications, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2023 | O’Loughlin, J.; Doherty, D.; Herward, B.; McGleenan, C.; Mahmud, M.; Bhagabati, P.; Boland, A.N.; Freeland, B.; Rochfort, K.D.; Kelleher, S.M.; Fahy, S.; Gaughran, J. (2023) 'The Potential of Bio-Based Polylactic Acid (PLA) as an Alternative in Reusable Food Containers: A Review'. Sustainability (Switzerland), . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2023 | N. Geoghegan, M. O’Loughlin, C. Delaney, K. D. Rochfort, M. Kennedy, S. Kolagatla, L. Podhorska, B. J. Rodriguez, L. Florea, and S. M. Kelleher (2023) 'Controlled Degradation of Polycaprolactone-based Micropillar Arrays'. Biomaterials Science, . | |
| 2022 | Freeland, B.; McCarthy, E.; Balakrishnan, R.; Fahy, S.; Boland, A.; Rochfort, K.D.; Dabros, M.; Marti, R.; Kelleher, S.M.; Gaughran, J. (2022) 'A Review of Polylactic Acid as a Replacement Material for Single-Use Laboratory Components'. Materials, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 | (2021) 'High Aspect Ratio Polymeric Nanoneedle Arrays'. Macromolecular Materials and Engineering, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 | Reid, G; McCormack, JC; Habimana, O; Bayer, F; Goromonzi, C; Casey, E; Cowley, A; Kelleher, SM (2021) 'Biomimetic Polymer Surfaces by High Resolution Molding of the Wings of Different Cicadas'. Materials, 14 (8). [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2020 | (2020) 'Direct Laser Writing to Generate Molds for Polymer Nanopillar Replication'. Acs Applied Polymer Materials, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2020 | (2020) 'Replica molding of cicada wings: The role of water at point of synthesis on nanostructure feature size'. Biointerphases, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2018 | Flynn, Shauna P,Bogan, Justin,Lundy, Ross,Khalafalla, Khalafalla E,Shaw, Matthew,Rodriguez, Brian J,Swift, Paul,Daniels, Stephen,O’Connor, Robert,Hughes, Greg,Kelleher, Susan M (2018) 'Nitrogen reactive ion etch processes for the selective removal of poly-(4-vinylpyridine) in block copolymer films'. 29 (35). [Link] | |
| 2017 | Lundy, Ross and Flynn, Shauna P. and Cummins, Cian and Kelleher, Susan M. and Collins, Maurice N. and Dalton, Eric and Daniels, Stephen and Morris, Michael A. and Enright, Ryan (2017) 'Controlled solvent vapor annealing of a high χ block copolymer thin film'. 19 :2805-2815. [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2017 | Flynn, Shauna P.,McKenna, Milena,Monaghan, Ruairi,Kelleher, Susan M.,Daniels, Stephen,MacCormac, Aoife (2017) 'Aqua-Art: A Demonstration of Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Surfaces Fabricated by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition'. 94 (2):221-225. [Link] | |
| 2017 | Flynn, S. P. and Monaghan, R. and Bogan, J. and McKenna, M. and Cowley, A. and Daniels, S. and Hughes, G. and Kelleher, S. M. (2017) 'Controlling wettability of PECVD-deposited dual organosilicon/carboxylic acid films to influence DNA hybridisation assay efficiency'. 5 :8378-8388. [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2016 | McKenna, Milena,Soberon, Felipe,Ricco, Antonio J.,Daniels, Stephen,Kelleher, Susan M. (2016) 'Click chemistry as an immobilization method to improve oligonucleotide hybridization efficiency for nucleic acid assays'. 236 :286-293. [Link] | |
| 2016 | (2016) 'Ultrasensitive microarray bioassays using cyanine5 dye-doped silica nanoparticles'. Nanotechnology, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2016 | Kelleher, S. M.,Habimana, O.,Lawler, J.,O’ Reilly, B.,Daniels, S.,Casey, E.,Cowley, A. (2016) 'Cicada Wing Surface Topography: An Investigation into the Bactericidal Properties of Nanostructural Features'. 8 (24):14966-14974. [Link] | |
| 2015 | Kelleher, S M,Nooney, R I,Flynn, S P,Clancy, E,Burke, M,Daly, S,Smith, T J,Daniels, S,McDonagh, C (2015) 'Multivalent linkers for improved covalent binding of oligonucleotides to dye-doped silica nanoparticles'. 26 (36). [Link] | |
| 2015 | Rowinska, M. and Kelleher, S. M. and Soberon, F. and Ricco, A. J. and Daniels, S. (2015) 'Fabrication and characterisation of spin coated oxidised PMMA to provide a robust surface for on-chip assays'. 3 :135-143. [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2015 | Nooney, Robert,O’Connell, Claire,Roy, Shibsekhar,Boland, Karla,Keegan, Gemma,Kelleher, Susan,Daniels, Stephen,McDonagh, Colette (2015) 'Synthesis and characterisation of far-red fluorescent cyanine dye doped silica nanoparticles using a modified microemulsion method for application in bioassays'. 221 :470-479. [Link] | |
| 2015 | Nooney, Robert I.,White, Angela,O’Mahony, Christy,O’Connell, Claire,Kelleher, Susan M.,Daniels, Stephen,McDonagh, Colette (2015) 'Investigating the colloidal stability of fluorescent silica nanoparticles under isotonic conditions for biomedical applications'. 456 :50-58. [Link] | |
| 2014 | (2014) 'Blending PEG-based polymers and their use in surface micro-patterning by the FIMIC method to obtain topographically smooth patterns of elasticity'. Biomaterials Science, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2013 | (2013) 'Hybrid hierarchical patterns of gold nanoparticles and poly(ethylene glycol) microstructures'. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2012 | Kelleher, Susan,Jongerius, Aniek,Loebus, Axel,Strehmel, Christine,Zhang, Zhenfang,Lensen, Marga C. (2012) 'AFM Characterization of Elastically Micropatterned Surfaces Fabricated by Fill-Molding In Capillaries (FIMIC) and Investigation of the Topographical Influence on Cell Adhesion to the Patterns'. 14 (3). [Link] | |
| 2011 | Geoghegan, Kimberly,Kelleher, Susan,Evans, Paul (2011) 'An Investigation into the One-Pot Heck Olefination−Hydrogenation Reaction'. 76 (7):2187-2194. [Link] | |
| 2007 | Kelleher, Susan,Muldoon, Jimmy,Müller-Bunz, Helge,Evans, Paul (2007) 'Studies concerning the double reduction of Diels–Alder derived bicylic sulfonamides'. 48 (27):4733-4736. [Link] | |
| 2005 | Lysén, Morten,Kelleher, Susan,Begtrup, Mikael,Kristensen, Jesper Langgaard (2005) 'Synthesis of Tertiary Benzamides via Pd-Catalyzed Coupling of Arylboronic Esters and Carbamoyl Chlorides'. 70 (13):5342-5343. [Link] |
Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2025) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.
Research Interests
Susan's research interests lie at the interface of biology and chemistry, specifically in the area of functionalised surfaces for biomedical applications. With her training in chemistry throughout her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, Susan approaches scientific problems from the point-of-view of a chemist, striving to understand the underlying functionality and reactivity of systems she works with. She works to integrate her fundamental scientific research into applied biomedical and engineering technologies.
Research Projects
Teaching Interests
- Polymer chemistry
- Organic chemistry
- Spectroscopy