Joe Uncategorized

Lab Awarded Sustainability Certificate

The Byrne Group were delighted to be awarded a Green Certification from MyGreenLabs, as part of Research Ireland’s Sustainable Laboratory Certification Pilot Programme. In Lab A2.01, we worked together with Tom Hooper’s and Andrew Phillips’ Groups to identify sources of waste, establish new recycling streams (e.g. for KimTech gloves), and pool resources where possible to limit duplication of purchases. It was a really worthwhile process and has made us more considerate of reducing negative environmental impacts of our research. Sophie Kavanagh joined a UCD-wide working group on wet lab practices as part of our actions, and we have participated in chemical swap days, further reducing wastage. We continue to meet and share ideas, which will hopefully keep us up to date with developments in this area

Marking the announcement of 72 Sustainable Laboratory Certifications awarded today to research spaces in 12 higher education institutions across Ireland were (left-right) Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD; Prof. Emmanuelle Graciet, Faculty of Science & Engineering, Maynooth University; and Dr Ciarán Seoighe, Deputy CEO, Research Ireland.

Announcing the awards, Minister Lawless said:

“Research involves more than exploration and discovery; it also demands attention to how we conduct our work and the impact it has on our communities and our planet. Research carries with it a responsibility to operate with integrity, to use resources wisely, and to ensure our pursuit of knowledge does not come at an unsustainable cost to the world around us. I warmly congratulate all the laboratory teams recognised today for their commitment to greener practices. This initiative, led by Research Ireland, marks a significant and encouraging step in placing sustainability at the centre of our national research system and signals Ireland’s intent to lead by example on climate-conscious innovation.”

UCD Press Release: 13 UCD labs awarded sustainable laboratory certifications for best-in-class practices

Research Ireland Press Release: Minister Lawless announces 72 Sustainable Laboratory Certifications (with full list of awardees)

Joe news, Publications

New publication: Metallodrugs in OBC

𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗴𝗹𝘆𝗰𝗼𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗷𝘂𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘀!
Delighted to have another article on glyco-metal complexes published in 𝘖𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤 & 𝘉𝘪𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺. This work was led by Karolina Wojtczak, PhD and involved contributions and support from lots of colleagues across disciplines including the teams of Trinidad Velasco-Torrijos, Anne Imberty, Gordon Cooke (TUD), Dr. Cristina Trujillo and Kevin Kavanagh who put lots of work into ideas, assays, measurements and calculations to support our hypotheses.

Please read the full article in the RSC journal Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, where it will be part of the 2025 New Talent Special Issue: https://doi.org/10.1039/D5OB00970G

Buíochas le Taighde Éireann Research Ireland as ucht tacaíocht.

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.

Joe Graduations, news, Team

Karolina defends her PhD thesis

Very proud of my very first PhD student Karolina Wojtczak who successfully defended her thesis last Thursday. A lot of hard work has paid off and she has left the group lots of interesting starting points for future projects (in addition to a few more imminent publications). Her thesis was titled “Metal-based glycoconjugates as molecular sensors for lectins and anti-adhesives”.

Karol was an absolute pleasure to have in my lab and I wish her all the best with her bright future. I’m sure she will achieve great things. Congratulations!

A great celebration was had in Galway to mark the occasion.

Thanks to Research Ireland (formerly SFI) (18/SIRG/5501) for financial support and Paul Murphy for co-supervising her, particularly after I moved to UCD last year.

Karol has already started a position as a Development Chemist in Sterling Pharma Solutions.

Joe Conferences, Outreach

Conway Institute 20th Birthday

Joe chaired a Conway Institute Alumni careers round-table session at the event celebrating 20 years of the Conway Institute of Biomolecular & Biomedical Research. This interdisciplinary institute produces cutting edge research in a range of fields. Joe was appointed a Conway Fellow this summer. At the event, alumni of the research centre came back to share career advice with young researchers at these round-table events, in addition to panel discussions about the future directions of UCD research, including contributions from Prof Phillip Nolan, the Chair of SFI. Joe facilitated discussion between professionals from pharma, biopharma and clinical data analysis with PhD students and postdocs looking towards their next career steps.

UCD Conway Institute, celebrating 20 years of research and innovation on Friday 20 October ’23,
UCD Conway Institute, celebrating 20 years of research and innovation on Friday 20 October ’23,
UCD Conway Institute, celebrating 20 years of research and innovation on Friday 20 October ’23,

[Photo credits: Angela Halpin, Vincent Hoban]

Joe Publications

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 (related to last year’s MSMLG Conference). The work was considered exciting by the editors and so was featured on the Front Cover of the journal issue.

We describe glycoconjugate terbium(III) complexes, which are able to detect carbohydrate-binding proteins in aqueous buffer solution. When the carbohydrate motif on the complex matches the target of the protein, an enhancement in lanthanide luminescence is observed. The bacterial lectin LecA (from P. aeruginosa) is one of the detected proteins.

Sensing behaviour of complexes Tb.3. See article for full description of results

This work was funded by Science Foundation Ireland (18/SIRG/5501), with support from a 4th year project student, and our collaborators in TU Dublin (Gordon Cooke) and University of Saarland (Alexander Titz, HZI/HIPS). The interdisciplinary work includes synthesis of new sensor molecules, biological assessment and examination of their lectin binding affinity. We believe this work could lead to the development of tools which could use detection of characteristic proteins from pathogens as a means for diagnosis, and hope to follow up on this in future publications.

Joe Conferences

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

Hannah and Joe attend COST Meetings in Romania and Greece

Hannah attended the International Meeting of Young Researchers hosted by InnoGly and GlycoNanoProbes COST Actions in Iasi, Romania in April and presented a talk on Carbohydrate-Functionalised Materials. Joe was part of the organising committee for this meeting, as well.

A few weeks later, in May, Joe spoke at the Closing Meeting of the InnoGly COST Action in Heraklion, Greece, a two-day interdisciplinary symposium of carbohydrate and glycan research, particularly focussed on the role of glycans in health and immunity. His presentation on carbohydrate-functionalised metal complexes prompted some interesting discussions with scientist from other disciplines.

Hannah speaking in Iasi
International Meeting of Young Researchers attendees
Lunch at InnoGly Closing Meeting
Attendees at Closing Meeting in Heraklion
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.