Joe Conferences, news, Presentations, Team

Thomas & Joe speak at EuChemS-9, Sophie and Hannah present posters

Research from the group was presented in two oral presentations and two poster presentations which featured in the programme of ECC-9, held at Dublin Convention Centre 7-11 July 2024. This major European conference, the largest chemistry event ever held in Ireland, had more than 1500 delegates and a wide international audience.

On the Tuesday, Thomas presented his progress on “Self-templating mechanically interlocked systems as dual activity antimicrobial candidates”, as part of the Link4Lectin project, prompting several interesting discussions with leading supramolecular chemists in attendance. Joe presented “Carbohydrate-functionalised metal complexes: targeting pathogens for therapeutic and sensing applications” as part of the Chemistry Meets Biology for Health Theme on the Thursday.

All of the team attended the meeting, with Sophie and Hannah presenting posters on their work as part of the poster sessions, Wanyujin working as a conference volunteer, and Karolina also joined the conference representing her employer Sterling. Joe judged the posters in the Catalysis theme.

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Hannah wins poster prize at ICI Congress

Members of the group attended the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland’s Congress in the Great Hall of Queens University Belfast this week. Two projects were presented as posters: Hannah gave some updates on SugarCoat, while Sophie and Thomas shared a poster highlighting the design of the Link4Lectin IRC Laureate project. Hannah also did an ‘elevator pitch’ for her project and was winner of a poster prize!

It was a very interesting event focussing on sustainability, and also featured the Eva Philbin Award Lecture from our UCD colleague Prof. Susan Quinn.

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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. At this symposium, Prof. Thorri Gunnlaugsson, Joe’s PhD advisor, was presented the ICI David Browne Award and also delivered a talk, including some of Joe’s work from his PhD among the vast array of other work across his career, leading to this recognition. The UCD-based members of the group also attended the lectures and engaged in the question and answer sessions.

Joe Conferences, Presentations, Team

RSC Carbohydrate Meeting in Belfast and first SugarCoat Team Meeting

Members of the team attended the RSC Carbohydrate Interest Group Annual Meeting at Queens University Belfast. Joe gave an oral presentation in the Great Hall. There were many interesting international speakers including Alexander Titz and Ulf Nilssen, as well as contributors from the UK and Ireland. The event was co-sponsored by the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland also (Division on Medicinal Chemistry), making it an excellent all-island event. Thanks to Gerd Wagner and Aisling Ní Cheallaigh, among others, for organising.

This meeting also gave an opportunity for the first in-person meeting of the full team of the SugarCoat North South Research Programme project – funded by the Shared Island Fund and the HEA. Postdoc Dr Hannah Crory has been working in the Wylie/McCoy lab in the School of Pharmacy, QUB.

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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 Institute of Chemistry of Ireland’s scientific calendar, awarded her a prize for her talk.

Prof. Declan Gilheany (UCD) awarding Karolina a prize for her presentation at the Colloquium
Joe Conferences, Presentations

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, organised by Dr Rob Elmes.

The title of his talk was “Carbohydrate-functionalisation – enhancing catalytic activity and potential for sensor design”, and he spoke about his work from his postdoctoral research in University of Bern, along with preliminary results from his new project in NUI Galway. The Congress was a great opportunity to engage with chemistry researchers from around Ireland, including old colleagues.