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Joe Byrne is Lecturer in Bioinorganic Chemistry at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland. He is an Irish chemistry researcher, with international experience and collaborators who is consolidating his research group in his first faculty position. Joe is currently leading three funded research projects. Joe is also enthusiastic about education, and has a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education from the Centre for Education, Learning and Teaching and University of Galway.
Prior to moving to UCD, Joe was an Honorary Research Lecturer in the School of Chemistry, University of Galway (2019-22), where he led an SFI-funded Starting Investigator Research Grant, developing carbohydrate-based sensing materials as platforms for diagnostic devices, with applications in clinical (bacterial infections) and environmental settings (contamination). The team for this project consists of Joe (Starting Investigator), Karolina Wojtczak (PhD student, 2019-present) and collaborators in the School of Chemistry and CÚRAM Centre for Medical Device Research.
Two new projects are beginning in the lab: SugarCoat, developing antimicrobial materials in collaboration with Queen’s University Belfast (HEA North South Research Programme); and Link4Lectin, and IRC Laureate Award project developing new antimicrobial metallodrug candidates.
Joe did postdoctoral research in University of Bern (Marie Curie Individual Fellowship, supervised by Prof Martin Albrecht), researching carbohydrate-functionalised organometallic catalysts, and Trinity College Dublin (supervised by Prof Thorri Gunnlaugsson), investigating lanthanide-directed self-assembly and supramolecular chemistry. He also completed his PhD in the Gunnlaugsson Group at TCD.
Joe’s research interests are in carbohydrates, organic synthesis, luminescent sensors, anti-microbial agents and coordination chemistry. He is on the committee of the RSC Carbohydrate Interest Group, the ICI Young Chemists Network and the Irish Biological Inorganic Chemistry Society.
Career summary:
| 2022-now | Lecturer in Bioinorganic Chemistry (UCD) | |
| 2019-2022 | SFI Starting Investigator Research Grant Fellow (NUI Galway) Honorary Research Lecturer in the School of Chemistry | |
| 2016-2019 | Postdoctoral Research Fellow (University of Bern, Prof. Albrecht) Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellow (2017-19) | |
| 2017 | Visiting Researcher at University of Nottingham | |
| 2014-2016 | Postdoctoral Researcher (Trinity College Dublin, Prof. Gunnlaugsson) | |
| 2015 | Visiting Researcher (Hong Kong University, Prof V. W.-W. Yam) | |
| 2010-2015 | PhD (Trinity College Dublin, Supervisor: Prof T. Gunnlaugsson) | |
| 2009 | SFI UREKA Summer Research Studentship | |
| 2006-2010 | BSc (Hons) (Maynooth University) | |
Byrne Research Group 