Joe Awards, news

Joe awarded Frontiers for the Future project funding of €791k

Joe has been awarded a Frontiers for the Future Project award worth €791,010 to support new research into functional materials to prevent bacterial infection. Leveraging bioinorganic and carbohydrate chemistry concepts into a new approach. This funding will allow the Byrne Research Group to expand and explore new areas of research. Recruitment for new PhD students is already underway, along with additional advanced equipment to facilitate the research. More details are in the press release from UCD Chemistry below.

Joe spoke about the project and the funding at the end of KFM’s Kildare Today programme on 21/05/202: on-air interview (0:31:50-end, [audio clip]).

The UCD School of Chemistry has achieved a major double-win in the latest Research Ireland Frontiers for the Future funding round. Dr. Charles Loh (Awards Stream) and Dr. Joseph Byrne (Projects Stream) have been awarded a combined €2.7 million to lead two visionary projects: LIGHT4CARB and GlycoMetalGuard.

This funding milestone cements UCD’s standing as a premier European hub for fundamental chemistry, bridging the gap between curiosity-driven science and global challenges in sustainability and human health. Furthermore, this achievement is a significant testament to UCD’s leading reputation at the global forefront of innovative carbohydrate chemistry.

The Frontiers for the Future Programme—a flagship initiative of the newly established Research Ireland—specifically targets ambitious, “high-risk, high-reward” research. It is designed to empower Irish scientists to challenge existing boundaries of knowledge, delivering breakthroughs with the potential for profound societal and economic impact.

LIGHT4CARB: Led by Dr. Charles Loh, the LIGHT4CARB project focuses on the emerging field of photoredox catalysis. The team aims to harness the power of inexpensive, widely available visible light to drive complex chemical reactions. By using light as a primary energy source, the project enables the sustainable and mild synthesis of essential biomolecules, such as non-natural sugars, while drastically reducing chemical waste and energy consumption. These synthetic sugars are critical “building blocks” for a wide range of pharmaceuticals. LIGHT4CARB will hence accelerate the drug discovery pipeline, ensuring that the next generation of high-value medicines is developed through greener, more efficient chemical processes.

“I am delighted that Research Ireland has recognised LIGHT4CARB as a bold blueprint for advancing sustainable photoredox chemistry to access valuable sugar building blocks,” says Dr. Loh. “This award underscores Research Ireland’s commitment to high-quality fundamental research and positions UCD as a leading hub for transformative visible-light-driven synthesis. I am immensely excited to embark on this new research chapter, pushing the frontiers of what is possible using modern light-driven organic synthesis, and to nurture younger generations of chemists with state-of-the-art synthetic strategies.”

GlycoMetalGuard: Led by Dr. Joseph Byrne, GlycoMetalGuard is developing innovative antimicrobial coatings and therapies to prevent hospital-acquired infections stemming from medical devices. Dr. Byrne’s team aims to target harmful bacteria with novel sugar-based metal compounds, supporting efforts to addressing antimicrobial resistance and improving patient safety and quality of life. Combining expertise in inorganic chemistry, carbohydrate chemistry and polymer chemistry within the team and through strategic collaborations puts UCD in a strong position to lead this innovative approach.

Dr. Byrne says, “Prevention of bacterial infections is key to fighting the challenge of antimicrobial resistance. For many vulnerable or immunocompromised patients, medical devices like catheters or endotracheal tubes are essential, but they can also be a risk for infection in hospital. I’m delighted to have the support from Taighde Éireann to build new chemical tools that we hope will enhance medical devices to better protect vulnerable people in Ireland and beyond. Fundamental scientific research is at the foundation of addressing major societal challenges like antimicrobial resistance – my team’s exploration of infection-prevention and new treatments will also train several highly skilled chemistry researchers who will go on to make further contributions to our skills economy.”

For further details, see the announcements at various sources below:

UCD Chemistry | UCD News | UCD Research | Research Ireland | Silicon Republic | UCD Conway Institute

Joe Research mobility, Team

Wanyujin visits Aveiro as part of NET4MAT

As part of the NET4MAT Marie Curie Staff Exchanges network, in which Joe is a workpackage leader, Wanyujin recently expanded her international collaborative network through a productive secondment at the University of Aveiro, Portugal. Wanyujin worked closely with Dr. Idalina Gonçalves’s group. The exchange focused on incorporating microbial sensing of lanthanide glycoclusters into starch-based materials and exploring the synthesis of these complex molecules.

By taking the lanthanide-based sensor molecules developed in our lab to Portugal, Wanyujin successfully synthesised and characterized starch-based polymer films doped with different concentrations of Eu(III). The collaboration involved in-depth knowledge exchange on synthesising lanthanide glycoclusters, exploring the covalent functionalisation of starch, and evaluating the luminescence responses of these innovative materials.In CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials, Wanyujin received hands-on training in materials characterisation techniques, including contact angle, mechanical properties measurements. This will strengthening our group’s technical capabilities and international ties.

NET4MAT includes universities and companies across Europe. More information:
https://net4mat.web.ua.pt/

Ana, Margarida, Idalina (host) and Wanyujin in Aveiro
Joe Publications

Publication on Universal Design for Learning in Chemistry

We have a new article in the Journal of Chemical Education! A challenge promoting Universal Design for Learning among chemistry colleagues is that case studies and examples of implementation mostly come from humanities or other fields; direct application can be harder to see. We have put together UDL guides and templates for a chemistry audience, which we hope will make using this powerful framework itself more accessible and relevant to our discipline.

Some highlights include:

  • Step-by-step guide on upgrading chemistry lecture notes to be more accessible (format, structure, use of colour)
  • Discussion of a range of accessibility-checkers and tools
  • Case study of changes made for a set of organic chemistry notes to score 100% on Ally accessibility-checker
  • Workflow for developing high-quality alt-text for chemistry teaching with aid of AI tools
  • Insights from staff interviews during a recent rollout of UDL Digital Badge training

Thanks to UCD Access and Lifelong Learning (ALL) for support and feedback in this project, and all the other co-authors, particularly Fun Man Fung for directing our various different efforts towards this manuscript (educational technology, different sub-fields of chemistry and T&L culture discussions). More to come in the future!

Joe news, Team

Welcome to Rosa, Finn and Hubert

This Autumn we welcome three new members to the Byrne Research Group. The group, at 6 full-time researchers, is the largest it has been to date! Welcome to Rosa, Finn and Hubert – we wish them every success.

Dr Rosa Fernandez Pison joins us as a postdoctoral researcher on the Link4Lectin project, where she will contribute to the coordination chemistry and organometallic components of the target molecules. She completed her PhD in UCD during the summer in organometallic catalyst development. She previously completed a Research MSc at University of Galway, and an undergraduate degree in her native Sevilla (with year abroad in University of York).

Finn Tlatlik holds an MSci from University of Glasgow in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry. His degree included a year of research placements in France as well as a project in Glasgow. He is joining us to complete his PhD with a Sir Walter Hartley Studentship, and will be working on optimising the photophysical properties of lanthanide complexes as lectin sensors.

Hubert Rebow is returning to the group, having secured a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship. Hubert is a recent graduate of UCD’s Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology BSc programme, and completed a final year project in our lab. His project, developing supramolecular boronic acid-based glycan probes involves collaboration with Dr Aniello Palma and Prof Jeremy Simpson.

Joe Team, Visitors

Catherine completes RISE internship

Catherine Chaita, a third-year Pharmaceutical Science students from TU Dublin in Tallaght, joined the lab for two-weeks this summer as part of the RSC RISE Programme, designed to retain, inspire, support, and enhance ethnically-underrepresented groups in the chemical sciences. Catherine had a placement at TU Dublin last summer and came to us this summer. She fit in really well and quickly picked up a lot of skills under Thomas’ tutelage (and contributed to the Link4Lectin project). Catherine had the following to say about her experience:

In the second year [of the RISE programme], I was offered a two-week summer internship at University College Dublin (UCD), where I had the opportunity to work in the laboratory of Professor Joe Byrne, whose research focuses on sugars and inorganic/organic chemistry.
During the internship, I worked under the mentorship of PhD graduate Thomas Rabbitte who guided me through a variety of hands-on experiments. I was actively involved in various research projects. This experience greatly enhanced my technical and analytical skills, as I was introduced to a range of instruments and laboratory techniques relevant to pharmaceutical science. I carried out several chemical reactions, including alkylation, click chemistry, and amide coupling reactions.
The lab environment was collaborative and inspiring, with a team of postgraduate researchers and undergraduate interns all contributing to ongoing sugar-related research. My time at UCD provided me with a solid foundation of practical skills and deeper insight into real-world pharmaceutical and chemical research, and it further fueled my interest in pursuing a career in the pharmaceutical industry.

We wish Catherine every success with the rest of her studies and her future career in chemistry and hope to see her again.

Well done to Catherine Chaita for completing an intership with us as part of the RISE programme
Joe Uncategorized

Lab Awarded Sustainability Certificate

The Byrne Group were delighted to be awarded a Green Certification from MyGreenLabs, as part of Research Ireland’s Sustainable Laboratory Certification Pilot Programme. In Lab A2.01, we worked together with Tom Hooper’s and Andrew Phillips’ Groups to identify sources of waste, establish new recycling streams (e.g. for KimTech gloves), and pool resources where possible to limit duplication of purchases. It was a really worthwhile process and has made us more considerate of reducing negative environmental impacts of our research. Sophie Kavanagh joined a UCD-wide working group on wet lab practices as part of our actions, and we have participated in chemical swap days, further reducing wastage. We continue to meet and share ideas, which will hopefully keep us up to date with developments in this area

Marking the announcement of 72 Sustainable Laboratory Certifications awarded today to research spaces in 12 higher education institutions across Ireland were (left-right) Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD; Prof. Emmanuelle Graciet, Faculty of Science & Engineering, Maynooth University; and Dr Ciarán Seoighe, Deputy CEO, Research Ireland.

Announcing the awards, Minister Lawless said:

“Research involves more than exploration and discovery; it also demands attention to how we conduct our work and the impact it has on our communities and our planet. Research carries with it a responsibility to operate with integrity, to use resources wisely, and to ensure our pursuit of knowledge does not come at an unsustainable cost to the world around us. I warmly congratulate all the laboratory teams recognised today for their commitment to greener practices. This initiative, led by Research Ireland, marks a significant and encouraging step in placing sustainability at the centre of our national research system and signals Ireland’s intent to lead by example on climate-conscious innovation.”

UCD Press Release: 13 UCD labs awarded sustainable laboratory certifications for best-in-class practices

Research Ireland Press Release: Minister Lawless announces 72 Sustainable Laboratory Certifications (with full list of awardees)

Joe news, Publications

New publication: Metallodrugs in OBC

𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗴𝗹𝘆𝗰𝗼𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗷𝘂𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘀!
Delighted to have another article on glyco-metal complexes published in 𝘖𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤 & 𝘉𝘪𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺. This work was led by Karolina Wojtczak, PhD and involved contributions and support from lots of colleagues across disciplines including the teams of Trinidad Velasco-Torrijos, Anne Imberty, Gordon Cooke (TUD), Dr. Cristina Trujillo and Kevin Kavanagh who put lots of work into ideas, assays, measurements and calculations to support our hypotheses.

Please read the full article in the RSC journal Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, where it will be part of the 2025 New Talent Special Issue: https://doi.org/10.1039/D5OB00970G

Buíochas le Taighde Éireann Research Ireland as ucht tacaíocht.

Joe Team

Rosy graduates!

Congratulation to Dr Rosy Polisicchio on her graduation from University of Galway today! Rosy’s thesis was titled “Lanthanide-functionalised vitamin B12 probes for targeted tumour bio-imaging: from rational design to biological evaluation” and her primary supervisor was Dr Luca Ronconi. Joe was her secondary supervisor, lending his expertise on lanthanide chemistry. Rosy was supported by a Hardiman Scholarship and later won an IRC Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship. She was also active in outreach during her PhD. Rosy has already started as an R&D Scientific Communication Advisor at Unilever in the UK. We wish Rosy every success in her future career!

Joe Team, Visitors

Romain completes his Erasmus+ internship with the group

Farewell to Romain Neveu, who is returning to his home university in France after a 4-month training mobility visit to our lab. Romain became a well-integrated member of the group and helped progress our investigations into fluorescent boronic acid derivatives.

Romain had the following to say about his visit:

I’m currently in my second year at ENSICaen, studying Materials-Chemistry with a major in Organic Chemistry and Catalysis (Master 1 level), and had the opportunity to do a four-month internship in Ireland as part of my Erasmus program. My main aim was to improve my English and technical skills, so I explored a number of Irish universities.
I discovered UCD and the Byrne Group on the university website, which focuses on carbohydrates and inorganic chemistry. I was particularly interested in this field, which led me to contact Joe Byrne.
During my internship, I worked on the synthesis of boronic acids and studied their fluorescence in interaction with various sugars. This experience enabled me to acquire technical and analytical skills in a pleasant working environment. I also had the opportunity to share some excellent moments with the team, both in and out of the laboratory. In conclusion, my internship with this group in Ireland was a real asset for me, both professionally and socially.

We wish Romain bon voyage and every success with the rest of his studies!