Explore UCD

UCD Home >

Fellows and Collaborators

Working on 3D-NET

Profile photo of ‌Isabel Rivero (ER7B) - Gadea GF (seconded to UCD)

‌Isabel Rivero (ER7B) - Gadea GF (seconded to UCD)

Experienced Researcher

"I have been working in Gadea GF for 5 years, mostly in R&D Department, always trying to acquire knowledge in other areas like Validations Dept., where I spent almost a year. All along my career, I have been focused in Steroids Chemistry and I have expertise crystallizing this kind of products and developing methods for UPLC and HPLC"

Profile photo of Elaine Keogh (ER8B) - UCD (seconded to RenaSci)

Elaine Keogh (ER8B) - UCD (seconded to RenaSci)

PhD Candidate and Postdoctoral Research Fellow

"I am a Pharmacology graduate from University College Dublin, Ireland. I recently submitted my PhD thesis, where I investigated the mechanism of action of a novel remyelinating therapeutic for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis, under the guidance of Assoc. Prof. Keith Murphy

Profile photo of Orla Galvin (ER12B) - UCD (seconded to RenaSci); (ER5) - RenaSci; (ER13B) - RenaSci (seconded to UCD)

Orla Galvin (ER12B) - UCD (seconded to RenaSci); (ER5) - RenaSci; (ER13B) - RenaSci (seconded to UCD)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

I am a Pharmacology graduate from UCD, Ireland, with a PhD in Medicine from QUB, UK. My expertise is in the area of vision and vascular science ranging from cell and molecular biology to whole organism models of ocular disease. My current research interests include drug discovery and design, and developing sustained release formulations of novel anti-angiogenic compounds for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy"

Profile photo of Avene Colgan (ESR27) - UCD (seconded to Gadea GF)

Avene Colgan (ESR27) - UCD (seconded to Gadea GF)

PhD Candidate

"In 2013 I graduated from UCD with a degree in Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology. I remained at UCD to carry out my doctoral studies under the supervision of Dr. Eoghan McGarrigle. I am currently in the fourth year of my PhD. My research combines two very important areas of organic chemistry; catalysis and carbohydrate synthesis. My work focuses on the development of novel organocatalysts for stereo and regioselective glycosylations.

Profile photo of Jorge Combarros (ER7A) - UVA (seconded to KalVista)

Jorge Combarros (ER7A) - UVA (seconded to KalVista)

Experienced Researcher

“I am a Research Scientist in Gadea GF, I have been in the company for 10 years. I started my career in R&D department working on the chemistry of steroids, but since 2 years ago I am in the Technical Services department focused in the improvement of processes. I have wide expertise in the development of analytic methods for equipment like LC or GC"

Profile photo of Temitope Sasore (ESR12) – UCD (seconded to KalVista)

Temitope Sasore (ESR12) – UCD (seconded to KalVista)

PhD Candidate

"I am a Pharmacology graduate from the University College Dublin and currently a third year PhD student working in the laboratory of Dr Breándan Kennedy. My research primarily focuses on identifying small molecule PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway inhibitors for the treatment of ocular neovascularization. In line with this, I am also interested in elucidating the role of PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway in angiogenesis."

Profile photo of Dr. Jesús Iglesias (MER24) - Gadea GF (seconded to UCD)

Dr. Jesús Iglesias (MER24) - Gadea GF (seconded to UCD)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

"I am an Organic Chemist specialized in Organic Synthesis, with 15 years’ experience in pharmaceutical industry synthesising Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API’s), covering from early development stages to plant validation and production."

Profile photo of Josie L. Williams (ESR15) - KalVista (seconded to UCD)

Josie L. Williams (ESR15) - KalVista (seconded to UCD)

Early Stage Researcher

"I recently graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in London with a degree in Bioveterinary Science and currently work at KalVista Pharmaceuticals, where I specialize in In Vitro ADME assays"

Profile photo of Jorge López BSc (MER20) - Gadea GF (seconded to UCD)

Jorge López BSc (MER20) - Gadea GF (seconded to UCD)

Research Fellow expert in synthesis and characterisation of compounds

"I obtained my BSc degree in Inorganic Chemistry at University of Zaragoza. My work and professional interests have been focused in Pharma-industry so far, particularly in Process Optimisation. It is amazing how little changes may lead to big differences in industrial scale manufacturing!!"

Profile photo of Denise Moran (ESR18) - UCD (seconded to Gadea GF)

Denise Moran (ESR18) - UCD (seconded to Gadea GF)

PhD Candidate

"I am a graduate of Medicinal Chemistry & Chemical Biology, University College Dublin and currently I am in the third year of my PhD in Organic Synthesis working under the supervision of Professor Pat Guiry in UCD. My research is in the design of heteroaromatic analogues of naturally-occurring anti-inflammatory agents for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. I have interests in natural product synthesis and their medicinal applications"

Profile photo of Laura García (ER17) - UVA (seconded to KalVista)

Laura García (ER17) - UVA (seconded to KalVista)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

"I am a Biotechnologist specialized in Visual Science. I got my PhD in IOBA – University of Valladolid, where my research primarily focused on the development of new three-dimensional in vitro models to study ocular surface inflammation. My experience is related to cell culture and tissue engineering"

Profile photo of Gary Bradshaw (ESR23) - UCD (seconded to Gadea GF)

Gary Bradshaw (ESR23) - UCD (seconded to Gadea GF)

PhD Candidate

“I am a chemistry graduate from Trinity College Dublin, currently doing a PhD under the supervision of Dr. Eoghan McGarrigle at UCD. My area of research is a mix of catalysis and carbohydrate chemistry. I am working to develop new catalysts and methodologies for use in carbohydrate synthesis”

Profile photo of Stephanie Merrigan (ESR26) - UCD (seconded to KalVista)

Stephanie Merrigan (ESR26) - UCD (seconded to KalVista)

PhD Candidate

“I am a pharmacology graduate from University College Dublin, Ireland. Currently I am undertaking a biomolecular and biomedical science PhD in Dr Kennedy’s lab, University College Dublin. My research focuses on identifying and developing improved therapeutics for diseases that are driving by excess vascular growth in the eye, ultimately causing blindness”

Profile photo of Dr Robert Jones (MER8) – RenaSci (seconded to UVA/IOBA)

Dr Robert Jones (MER8) – RenaSci (seconded to UVA/IOBA)

Executive Director and Company Secretary at RenaSci

"I am a director and founder of RenaSci Limited, a small CRO located in the UK (Nottingham) that specializes in amongst other therapeutics areas the evaluation of novel drugs for the treatment of diabetes and for the treatment of the complications of diabetes, nephropathy, neuropathy and retinopathy. I have significant experience within the pharmaceutical industry where I was the project leader of both diabetes and obesity research programmes at Boot Pharmaceuticals"

Profile photo of Julie Slade (MER13A) - RenaSci (seconded to UCD)

Julie Slade (MER13A) - RenaSci (seconded to UCD)

Senior Research Scientist

“I am currently working as a Research Scientist for RenaSci in Nottingham, UK. I have been in the research industry for over 11 years, beginning in animal disease surveillance, then Toxicology in rodents. My main areas are in in vivo studies, specifically in Diabetes and Nephropathy, and also in Self-Administration for Drug Dependency. I have an interest in Retinopathy and Retinal Morphology, which I am working on in zebrafish at UCD (July-August 2016).”

Profile photo of Laura Soriano-Romani (ER16) - UVA (seconded to RenaSci)

Laura Soriano-Romani (ER16) - UVA (seconded to RenaSci)

PhD Candidate

“I am a Biotechnologist specialized in Visual Science. I am doing my PhD at the Ocular Surface Group at IOBA - University of Valladolid under the supervision of Dr Yolanda Diebold. We are in vitro and in vivo testing novel anti-inflammatory drugs and delivery systems to improve current treatments against ocular surface inflammatory disorders”

Profile photo of Iván Fernández-Bueno (MER25A) - UVA (seconded to RenaSci)

Iván Fernández-Bueno (MER25A) - UVA (seconded to RenaSci)

Senior Post Doc and Lecturer

“I am Veterinary Medicine and Surgery PhD. My fields of research are advanced therapies applied to the retinal pathologies, ophthalmic biomedical research models, and retinal healing and repair. I am Clinical Associate Professor of Veterinary Ophthalmology at the University of Leon (Spain) and I was the Research Director of University Institute of Applied Ophthalmology (IOBA), University of Valladolid (Spain)”

Profile photo of Sean Kirwan (ESR29) - UCD (seconded to RenaSci)

Sean Kirwan (ESR29) - UCD (seconded to RenaSci)

Medical Scientist/Research Associate

“I have a BSc in Pharmacology and MSc in Biotechnology from UCD. My professional experience lies in clinical trials and drug development using technology in the form of animation videos, social media, websites and public engagement methodology”

Profile photo of María Luz Alonso (ER25B) - UVA (seconded to KalVista)

María Luz Alonso (ER25B) - UVA (seconded to KalVista)

PhD Candidate

“I am a Veterinarian and currently I am doing my PhD at Retina Group at IOBA - University of Valladolid, Spain. My research focuses on in vitro and in vivo testing advanced therapies to improve current treatments for retinal degeneration diseases”

Profile photo of Dr Pilar Ventosa (ER4) – Gadea GF

Dr Pilar Ventosa (ER4) – Gadea GF

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

“I have a PhD in Chemistry from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) since 2012. Afterwards, I carried out a postdoctoral stay between Palacky University (Olomouc, CR) and the University of NotreDame (USA) in the Viktor Krchnak´s group. My research experience is related with organic and medicinal chemistry, mainly in the design, synthesis, study and further optimization of structurally diverse chemical entities as modulators of therapeutically relevant protein-protein interactions”

Dr. Nils Ohnesorge

Dr Nils Ohnesorge (ER1) - UCD (and MER22 seconded to KalVista)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

“I'm an expert in the fields of vascular biology, molecular biology and developmental biology and my project is mainly focused on discovery of new anti-angiogenic drugs to find improved treatments for various eye diseases were abnormal blood vessel growth would lead to impaired vision or blindness”.

Dr. Javier A Calles

Dr Javier A Calles (ER2) – UVA (and ER9 seconded to KalVista)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

"I am a Pharmacist and recently Materials Science and Technology Ph.D. graduate in UNS - National University at Bahía Blanca (Argentina). My experience is related to pharmaceutical technology, specifically in the design and characterization of ocular drug delivery systems."

Profile photo of Dr Stephen Pethen (MER6) - KalVista (seconded to UCD)

Dr Stephen Pethen (MER6) - KalVista (seconded to UCD)

Senior Analytical Scientist

“I am a senior Analytical Scientist, with over 20 years expertise in drug disposition and bioanalysis, currently responsible for the Bioanalytical and Chemistry analytical laboratory at KalVista”.

Dr. Claire Kilty, Post-doctoral Researcher

Dr Claire Kilty (ER10) - UCD (seconded to RenaSci)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

"I am an early stage postdoctoral fellow working in an ocular pharmacology laboratory in University College Dublin. My research involves optimising the delivery of novel drugs to the retina for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. Specifically, I utilise biodegradable microparticles to provided sustained drug release to the eye.

Catherine Tighe, PhD Candidate

Catherine Tighe (ESR11) - UCD (seconded to Gadea GF)

PhD Candidate

“I graduated from UCD in 2012 with a degree in Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology. I am currently in the second year of my PhD in the area of organic chemistry under the supervision of Professor Pat Guiry at UCD, working on the synthesis of anti-inflammatory lipoxin analogues for biological evaluation. I am interested in synthetic organic chemistry, and I have a specific interest in organic molecules with biological and medicinal properties”

Dr. Breandan Kennedy

Dr. Breandán N. Kennedy (MER14) - UCD (seconded to KalVista)

Principal Investigator

“I am the Principal Investigator of the Zebrafish and Retina lab at the Conway Institute in UCD. Since 2013 I coordinate the 3DNET consortium, with 2 Universities and 3 Companies joining efforts for the discovery and development of ophthalmic drugs in Europe.”

Prof Pat Guiry

Patrick Guiry

Professor

Professor of Synthetic Organic Chemistry at UCD and Director of the Irish Centre for Synthesis and Chemical Biology. His research group focuses on synthetic organic chemistry, with interests in both the development of asymmetric synthetic methodology through the application of new chiral ligands in homogeneous metal-catalysed transformations and in the total synthesis of compounds of biological interestIn 3DNET he will advise, lead and supervise the organic synthesis of lipoxin analogs.

Dr. Eoghan McGarrigle

Eoghan McGarrigle

Dr

Dr Eoghan Mc Garrigle joined the School of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in UCD as an independent research group leader. His position is funded by Science Foundation Ireland under the Starting Investigators Research Grant scheme. His research group is interested in heterocycles, sulfur ylide chemistry and developing organocatalysts to promote glycosylation reactions.

Profile photo of Denis Shields

Denis Shields

Professor

I am Professor of Clinical Bioinformatics at UCD and Director of the UCD Bioinformatics Centre. My research group focuses on bioinformatics, with a particular interest in peptides and peptide mimetics modulating protein-protein interactions.
In 3DNET I will advise and collaborate on bioinformatics and cheminformatics.

website of my research group: http://bioinfo-casl.ucd.ie/shields/

Profile photo of Dr Heika Silveira (ER3) – KalVista Pharmaceuticals

Dr Heika Silveira (ER3) – KalVista Pharmaceuticals

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

"I am a Pharmacist with a PhD in Pharmacology, specializing in basic and clinical research, with a background in neuroinflammation and experience in conducting pharmacokinetic profiling and cellular assays within Small Molecule Drug Discovery teams from USA and Canada. Currently, my professional objective is to integrate my expertise in in vitro and in vivo models into Kalvista's initiatives. Specifically, I aim to enhance our understanding of the enzyme plasma kallikrein's role in three pivotal areas of 3D-NET research: advancing the discovery and development of small molecule drugs with innovative anti-angiogenic properties in ocular health, reducing retinal vascular permeability, and developing small molecule compounds with cell-protective capabilities."

3D NET

University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
T: +353 1 716 7777