Joe has published a new article in Dalton Transactions about “Europium-directed self-assembly of allyl bis(triazolyl)pyridine (btp) ligands”. The article describes two allyl-appended btp ligands (including a mannose-derivative). Both form luminescent europium(III) complexes with quantum yields 5.4% and 1.9% and with reasonably high stabiltiy constants.
Although in prior work, published during Joe’s time in Thorri Gunnlaugsson’s group, one of these ligands was shown to form self-templated [2]catenanes under ring-closing metathesis conditions, attempts to form Eu(III)-centred catenanes from allyl-appended complexes were not successful due to geometrical and structural constraints. Self-assembly of both ligands with Eu(III) in acetonitrile was studied by UV-Vis absorbance, CD and emission titrations.
We bid farewell to Jamie Casey from Alabama who has had a very productive project as part of the Arcadia Abroad research mobility programme at UCD (SCI30050), closely supervised by Rosa and Sophie. Jamie did a lot in less than 8 weeks helping progress research into lanthanide metal complexes with macrocyclic ligands.
Sophie, Rosa and Jamie
Finally, the group made our summer outing into the city centre and successfully escaped a “Cabin in the Woods” at Incognito Escape Rooms. Lots of problem-solving skills honed in the lab, finding a very high-stakes application!
Victorious in the Escape Room: Hubert, Yujin, Thomas, Sophie, Finn, Jamie, Rosa, and Joe
In 2024, the ICI Young Chemists Network (to whom Joe is an Advisor) organised the Young Chemists for Change event at UCD, focussing on the role of equality, diversity and inclusion in the chemistry community in Ireland, the UK and further afield. A full report of the event is available in Irish Chemical Events. This event was supported by the RSC Inclusion and Diversity Fund. Recently a Forum Article about the event was published in RSC Sustainability.
The editor of the journal RSC Sustainability commissioned a collection of Forum articles highlighting impacts of the Inclusion and Diversity Fund, highlighting the relevance of culture in the chemistry community to sustainability more broadly:
“As a journal from the Royal Society of Chemistry, it is to be expected that most authors select one or more of the more obviously technical SDGs. However, it is vital that we remember the importance of societal changes to achieve the SDGs. These are made explicit in SDGs 5 (Gender Equality) and 10 (Reduced Inequalities), but we should also remember that there are other SDGs that have both technical and societal aspects. For example, it will be impossible to deliver SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) without accounting for unequal health outcomes based on sex and gender, race and ethnicity, poverty, geography, prior disability, and sexual orientation. I have always believed that the Chemical Sciences and Chemical Scientists can contribute to all of the SDGs and that RSC Sustainability should play its part in this.”
The Forum article presents demographic data, qualitative and quantitative analysis of responses from attendees at the event, and the impact EDI events can have on awareness and sense of belonging. Joe is a co-author of this article along with the main organisers of the event. The forum article can be read at https://doi.org/10.1039/d6su90043g
The Byrne Group have had a busy summer attending various Conferences and Summer Schools.
Finn attended the 3rd International Supramolecular Chemistry Summer School in Cagliari, Italy, with a bursary from the LUCES COST Action. He presented a poster titled “Lanthanide Glycoconjugate Complexes as Luminescent sensors for P. aeruginosa”.
Sophie presented a poster entitled “Thread-and-Click Assembly of Dual-Active Glycoconjugate [2]Rotaxanes for Selective Lectin Binding” at the International Symposium on Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry in Bordeaux during the week of the 6th July.
Meanwhile, Thomas presented a poster on mechanically interlocked glycoconjugates at the 32nd International Carbohydrate Symposium (ICS) in Bratislava.
Joe delivered an oral presentation at the joint ACSMEDI-EFMC Medicinal Chemistry Frontiers conference, hosted in Trinity College Dublin from 22-24 June 2026. The event, organised by Marina Rubini, Isabel Rozas and Trini Velasco-Torrijos gathered around 400 researchers from academia and industry from the US, Europe and further afield. Joe spoke about luminescent glycoconjugate metals complexes and materials as well as some of their antiadhesive properties from lectin-targeting. This was the final talk in a Carbohydrates in Health session, featuring Prof Paul Murphy (Galway) and Prof Carmen Galan (Bristol).
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]). An article also appeared on the project in the Kildare Nationalist.
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:
A secondary school transition year student Matthew completed some work experience in our lab as part of his Transition Year programme, under Sophie’s guidance. He undertook several experiments, learned about lab work and got to experience several aspects of UCD student life. Matthew had the following to say:
I spent an amazing three days in the chemistry department at UCD. It was such a great opportunity given to me by a PhD student who not only taught me a lot in the lab, but also showed me around the campus and talked about what it’s like to study chemistry.
During my time in the lab, we carried out two experiments: synthesising paracetamol using 4-aminophenol and acetic anhydride, and decaffeinating tea leaves and coffee beans. Through these experiments, I learned a range of skills, including different filtration techniques (gravity, vacuum, heat, and recrystallisation). I also learned how to use lab equipment like a rotary evaporator and was introduced to separation and purification techniques.
I also got the chance to sit in on an undergraduate chemistry lecture, which really showed me the difference between learning in school and studying at college. Having taken part in a number of TY programmes in colleges around Dublin, this was definitely the best experience. It gave me a real understanding of what it’s like to be a student and what a researcher’s work life is actually like.
–Matthew
Thanks to Matthew’s school and family for facilitating this activity and well done to Sophie on her mentorship.
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.
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 was invited to present some recent results from the group as part of session #96 of the European Glycoscience Community webinar series. The title of the talk was Glycoconjugate metal complexes: As antiadhesives against pathogens, and sensors for bacterial lectins, and it included updates from our recent OBC article. The video of the webinar is available on YouTube.
