Project
The research group was launched with an SFI SIRG award to develop carbohydrate-based luminescent sensing materials for pathogen detection – towards diagnostic applications. The focus is on carbohydrate-binding proteins from P. aeruginosa, which are selective for galactosides and fucosides. We have demonstrated the sensing abilities of lanthanide(III) complexes; translation to a prototype sensing device is on-going.
Personnel and Partners
During its initial phase, this project was led at University of Galway by Dr Joseph Byrne as Starting Investigator, and PhD student Karolina Wojtczak, with the support of Mentor Prof. Paul Murphy. When the group moved to UCD in January 2023, Prof. Murphy formally became PI, and research scientist Garret Dee joined the team.
University College Dublin, University of Galway and CÚRAM Centre for Medical Device Research are partners in this project.
Funding
This project is supported by Science Foundation Ireland Starting Investigator Research Grant scheme: 18/SIRG/5501
Outputs
Two publications have resulted from this research so far:
- Review of lectin-targeted glycoconjugates for P. aeruginosa proteins in ChemMedChem (2022)
- Report of selective lectin-sensing with Tb(III) complexes in ChemComm (2023)
This work has also been presented at conferences in Ireland, UK, France, internationally online. See related news below for details
Related News:
Joe speaks at European Glycoscience Community webinar series
Joe was invited to present recent results from the group as part of the EGC webinar series. A video of the webinar is available on YouTube.
New publication: Metallodrugs in OBC
In this article, we show how metal complexation can modulate biological activity of glycoconjugate ligands against pathogens. Well done to Karolina and our collaborators on this work [click image for more]
Thomas & Joe speak at EuChemS-9, Sophie and Hannah present posters
Thomas & Joe gave talks at ECC-9, while Sophie and Hannah presented their research in poster sessions at this major international conference. [click image for more…]
Karolina defends her PhD thesis
Congratulations to Dr Karolina Wojtczak, the first PhD student from the Byrne Group to defend her thesis [click image for more…]
Irish Language-Ceimic as Gaeilge 2024
Ar 1 Márta, d’eagraigh Joe agus Cathal Kelly imeacht á phlé cúrsaí thaighde ceimice trí mheáin na Gaeilge. | On 1st of March, Joe and Cathal Kelly organised an event discussing chemical research through the medium of the Irish language. [click for full report]
ChemComm: Terbium-based lectin sensors
Congratulations to Karolina on her first article published in Chemical Communications. The article has been included in the HOT Articles 2023 Collection as well as a themed collection on Chemosensors and Molecular Logic. We present glycoconjugate lanthanide complexes with ‘switch on’ in emission when they detect characteristic carbohydrate-binding proteins.
Irish Chemistry Colloquium in Galway
Members of the group attended the annual Institute of Chemistry of Ireland event, hosted this year in Galway. Joe was a judge for the student awards at this event, and – as advisor to the ICI Young Chemists Network – had various meetings about the future direction of the organisation for young chemists.
Group meeting at UCD and lunch
For the first time since the group moved to UCD, we had an in-person meeting of members from Galway and UCD. Karolina was returning from a research stay in Grenoble (funded by the French embassy in Ireland) and updated us on some exciting results, which Thomas, Hannah and Wanyujin gave updates on their work. Afterwards…
Joe speaks at “Inorganic Ireland”
Joe delivered an oral presentation at the annual Inorganic Ireland Symposium in Trinity College Dublin on 18 May 2023. In his talk, “Carbohydrate-functionalised metal complexes: targeting pathogens for therapeutic and sensing applications”, he spoke about the latest work from the group in using metal complexes to target bacteria and fungi.
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…
Joe moves to UCD as Lecturer in Bioinorganic Chemistry
In January 2023, Joe joined the Faculty of UCD School of Chemistry as Lecturer in Bioinorganic Chemistry, and the Byrne Group will be moving to Dublin as well, and expanding.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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].
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]
Byrne Research Group 