Recent news and events from the Byrne Research Group. [Browse by category: Awards, Outreach, Team, Publications ] See also: Press Archive
News items (click on images for full posts)
Hannah and Joe attend COST Meetings in Romania and Greece
Hannah attended the International Meeting of Young Researchers (Iasi) and Joe attended the Closing Meeting of InnoGly COST Action (Heraklion) recently [click image for more…]
Karolina visits Kavanagh Lab, Maynooth
Karol set up a collaboration with Prof Kevin Kavanagh in Maynooth to investigate the effects of carbohydrate-functionalised metal complexes on Candida albicans. She spent 10 days working in the Kavanagh lab recently, carrying out her own biological assays and collecting some very promising results of the impact on yeast cells. There will be further updates…
Christmas lunch!
We brought the year to a close with a Christmas group lunch in Hyde, Galway. We also celebrated the completion of the fourth year undergraduate research projects. Shivon Karundu, who carried out her project in our lab celebrated with classmates at the research poster session in the School. Well done on a productive year!
RSC Carbohydrate Meeting in Belfast and first SugarCoat Team Meeting
Joe spoke at this RSC/ICI joint event at Queens University Belfast and also had the first in-peron meeting of the SugarCoat North South Research Project team. [Click photo for more]
Joe interviewed in The Irish Times
Claire O’Connell interviewed Joe for a write-up in the Irish Times about his recent trip to Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings in Germany, meeting chemistry Nobel winners, and my current research programme in into sensors for bacterial infections. Click on photo to read the full article.
Team present at three international conferences
Joe and Karolina presented their work at conferences in Dublin, Grenoble and online this summer. [click for details]
Joe attends Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting in Germany
Joe attended the prestigious Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting in Chemistry this June. It was an excellent experience, where he met several Nobel laureates including Dick Schrock and Benjamin List, and had dinner with Jean-Marie Lehn and William Kaelin. Joe summarised his experiences at the meeting in a blog [click for link], which the Irish Research…
Karolina wins prize for talk at ICI Colloquium
Karol delivered an oral presentation at the Irish Universities Chemistry Research Colloquium in UCD on 15 June 2022 entitled “Shining a Light on Bacteria : Lanthanide- based Glycoconjugate Molecular Sensors for Lectins”. The talk was very well received, with lots of discussion arising afterwards. The judges at the Colloquium, the highlight of the ICI’s scientific…
May Outreach Activities
In May, Karolina engaged the public with a “Pint of Science” talk in Massimo’s Bar, Galway and at the START Competition, aimed at schoolchildren. [click for more details]
Article on lectin-inhibitors published in ChemMedChem
Our new review article highlights the structural considerations for building synthetic glycoconjugates as inhibitors for Pseudomonas aeruginosa lectins, and is a thorough overview of the field to date.
Shared Island Funding awarded to medical device coating project
A new collaboration between NUI Galway and Queen’s University Belfast has been awarded €193k as part from the Shared Island fund. The SUGARCOAT team will design functional coatings for medical devices to prevent and detect bacterial infections.
New article on carbohydrate-NHC iridium catalysts
New article reports carbohydrate-NHC hybrid complexes capable of hydrogenation catalysis with enantiomeric induction.
Group Christmas Lunch
The Byrne group made it out for a Christmas lunch to celebrate the year’s work!
Joe gives seminar to MIT Glycobiology Club
ecent article in RSC Advances, along with other work from the group. Carbohydrate researchers from MIT and other institutes in the Cambridge area tuned in to watch the talk and ask questions.
Joe awarded Enterprise Ireland funding
Joe has been awarded funding by Enterprise Ireland to support the preparation of a competitive application for the European Research Council Starting Grant.
Karolina gives talk about undergraduate research to Maynooth University
Karolina was invited back to Maynooth University to talk about the impact of SPUR Summer undergraduate research internship had on her career.
ISMSC Poster receives commendation
Joe’s poster at the Int’l Symposium of Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry ’21 was recognised for highly commendable work.
Joe attends Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting
Joe attended the Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting where he discussed science with young scientists and Laureates including Grubbs, Schrock, Yonath and Perlmutter.
New article in RSC Advances: Glycoclusters with anti-biofilm activity
Ruthenium-centred glycoclusters based on carbohydrate-functionalised bis(triazolyl)pyridine ligands show Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm inhibition, with activity that is dependent on ligand structure.
Farewell to BSc student Mairead
Congratulations to Mairead on finishing her 4th year project in the group!
Invited seminar at Keele University
Joe delivered a seminar to postgraduate students and academic staff at Keele University as part of their annual Seminar Series. Joe was invited to speak by Dr Chris Hawes, Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry at Keele. The seminar was entitled “Sweetness and light: a journey towards diagnostic tools” and described the research which underpins the current…
Karol speaks at Le Chéile Conference Cork
Karolina gave a research presentation at a conference aimed at improving the visibility of women in chemistry research and industry.
Joe speaks at Irish Biological Inorganic Chemistry Symposium
Joe gave an oral presentation about his work with carbohydrate-functionalised metal complexes at the 2020 Irish Biological Inorganic Chemistry Symposium in November. The annual IBICS meeting, and subsequent AGM, were held online this year and were well attended. Before his talk, Prof Celine Marmion, the president of IBICS, drew attention again to his role in…
Chemistry talks now supported on ResearchSeminars
A listings site for online scientific talks now supports chemistry content. Click for more information.
ICI Postgraduate Symposium a success
The ICI Postgraduate Chemistry Research Symposium took place successfully. Click the image to read more about the event.
New organocatalysis paper in OBC
In new research, carried out in University of Bern, we have shown that triazolium iodides are excellent catalysts for the oxidative coupling of benzylamines, due to a synergistic cation/anion effect, with iodide acting as I−/I2 redox manifold and the triazolium cation facilitating the iodine reduction and concomitant substrate oxidation. [Click for more]
Karolina presents project at ICI Postgraduate Symposium
Karolina presented a flash talk about her research at the 1st ICI Postgraduate Chemistry Research Symposium with two very colourful slides [click for more].
Call for abstracts for ICI Online Postgrad Symposium
The ICI Postgraduate Chemistry Research Symposium has been launched in a bid to give PhD students a chance to share their research this summer. Please sumit an abstracts to present at this event on 9 September. Joe and Mark Kelada (ICI Young Chemists representatives) are co-chairing a postgraduate committee organising this event.
Lindau Online Science Days
Joe participated the Lindau OSD Event, asking questions of Nobel laureates, presenting his Sciathon project and attending many talks [click for more]
CÚRAM Centre Webinar
Joe gave a talk at the CÚRAM Centre for Medical Device Research webinar series to a multidisciplinary audience [click image for more]
Lindau Sciathon: “Anansi Webinars” (3rd Place)
A new platform for sharing details of online seminars, and a call to “open the doors of seminar rooms worldwide” was the proposal of Team Elmiger in the Sciathon competition [click image for more details]
RSC Carbohydrate Interest Group ECR Webinars
Joe was invited to give a talk as part of the series of Early Career Researcher webinars that the Royal Society of Chemistry Interest Group are organising this summer. His talk was titled: “Metals and carbohydrates: organometallic catalysts & bacterial lectin‐targeting glycoclusters”
Online Seminar Series
See the timetable for the NUI Galway School of Chemistry Online seminar series, which Joe is organising. [click image for details]
Joe and Adele selected to attend Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting
Joe was one of two NUI Galway chemists selected to attend the 70th Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting next summer. [click photo for more]
New paper in ChemCatChem
New research, carried out at University of Bern and Universitat Jaume I describes the use of mesoionic iridium(III)-NHC complexes as catalysts for efficient dehydrogenation of carbohydrates in water, producing H2 and carbohydrate acids.
Well done, Ian – and now the shutdown!
Congratulations to Ian on submitting his final year project report. We’ll miss having him around the lab. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, we’ll all be missing the lab, as it will be closed for the next few months. [click photo for more]
Karolina and Joe at Young Scientist Exhibition stand
Karolina and Joe represented NUI Galway at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, as part of a team from Kitchen Chemistry. [click photo for more]
Joe speaks at festive RSC Coordination and Organometallic Discussion Group Christmas Meeting
Joe gave a talk on the topic of “Ruthenium and carbohydrates” at the CODG Christmas meeting in UCD, Dublin.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas from the Byrne Group and thanks to our colleagues in the Myers, O’Duill and Farras Groups for a lovely Christmas dinner!
Joe gives seminar at Maynooth University
Joe was invited to give a seminar in his alma mater Maynooth University. He spoke about his research into luminescence and carbohydrates and how his current project is bringing these together. [click photo for more]
Karolina takes part in Science Week at NUI Galway
As part of Kitchen Chemistry, Karolina took part in a Chemistry Workshop for primary school students as part of the Galway Science and Technology Festival. This festival is part of the national Science Week celebrations.
Joe attends first Trinity College Dublin Alumni meeting with Provost in Galway
For the first time in 427 Trinity Alumni met in Galway with the Provost. Lovely to hear about all the significant new developments to TCD’s campus and to meet with some new NUI Galway colleagues
Congratulations to Prof Murphy on his Research Supervisor Award from the University
Congratulations to Prof Paul Murphy on his award, reflecting his commitment to training PhD students and postdocs through the years, including his support for the Byrne group, for which we are very grateful [click image for more]
Dillon Symposium Public Session videos
Videos from the public session of the Dillon Centenary Symposium are available on YouTube, including a Chemical Ballet and a historical talk about Prof Dillon [click photo for more]
Walk for Cystic Fibrosis Ireland
Joe raised funds for CFI by taking part in their annual Head2Head walk around Dublin Bay. People with CF are very affected by P. aeruginosa infections, and our research aims to speed up diagnosis of this pathogen. It seemed an appropriate charity – thanks to those who supported [click for more]
Swiss Chemical Society Fall Meeting
Joe had a visit back to Switzerland to present his work at the SCS Fall Meeting in Zurich
New publication in Dalton Transactions
Latest research on carbohydrate-functionalised NHC-Ru complexes as catalysts for transfer hydrogenation [Click image for more]
CÚRAM Poetry Slam
In June 2019, CÚRAM SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices invited its researchers to write some poetry in a workshop with Todd Robinson and recite these poems in public at ‘The Dark Horse’ pub in Athlone. This is the work of Team ‘Drug Delivery 1’ and comprises Liam Fitzgerald, Neville Murphy, Marita Dangol, Joseph Byrne,…
44th Institute of Chemistry Ireland Congress at Maynooth
Joe was invited to give a flash presentation at the ICI’s annual congress in Maynooth University. He spoke about his work with carbohydrate-functionalisation of metal complexes [click photo for more]
Joe awarded Starting Investigator Research Grant by Science Foundation Ireland
A SIRG grant of €420,000 will allow Joe to start an independent research team in NUI Galway, developing luminescent sensors for bacterial infection. [click photo for more about the award]
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