Research Team

Shane Browne — Principal Investigator of Browne Lab and Lecturer for the Department of Anatomy and Regenerative Medicine

Dr. Shane Browne is a lecturer in the Department of Anatomy and Regenerative Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). Dr. Browne graduated with a Bachelor of Biomedical Engineering from the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) and completed his PhD at the Centre for Research in Medical Devices (CURAM) at NUIG with Dr. Abhay Pandit. Dr. Browne was awarded the Julia Polak European Doctoral Award by the European Society for Biomaterials in 2015. After completing his doctoral studies, Dr. Browne pursued postdoctoral research with Prof Kevin Healy at the University of California, Berkeley, supported by prestigious fellowships from the Irish Research Council (IRC) and the American Heart Association (AHA). Dr. Browne returned to Ireland and joined RCSI in 2020.

Postdoctoral Researchers

Noémie Petit — Senior Postdoctoral Researcher

Noémie obtained a BSc and MSc in Food Science and Biotechnology from the University of La Rochelle, France. She completed her PhD in Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, focusing on the food-based delivery of bioactive peptides for gut health. Noémie was awarded a MedTrain+ fellowship from CÚRAM, the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Centre for Research in Medical Devices. Her postdoctoral work focuses on the development of hyaluronic acid-based hydrogels for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers.

Mirella Ejiugwo — Postdoctoral Researcher

Mirella obtained a BSc (Honours) in Applied Biology and Biopharmaceutical Science from Atlantic Technological University Galway. She also completed a MSc in Clinical Research from the University of Galway and a postgraduate certificate in Biopharmaceutical Science from Atlantic Technological University Sligo. Her PhD research at the University of Galway was focused on developing physio-pathologically relevant in vitro model of diabetic foot ulcer for drug testing applications—as part of the lifETIME Centre for Doctoral Training Program. Her doctoral supervisors were Prof. Gerard O’Connor and Dr. Yury Rochev. Mirella’s postdoctoral research is focused on understanding triggering factors of peristomal skin complications in ileostomies using in vitro skin models.

Postgraduate Students

Matthew McGrath — Year 4 PhD Student

Matthew obtained a BA in Nanoscience, Physics and Chemistry of Advanced Materials from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He began his PhD at RCSI in 2020, focusing on the development of a biomimetic collagen-based scaffold for complex wound healing, co-supervised by Prof. Fergal O’Brien. His work focuses on the functionalisation of scaffolds for complex wounds with extracellular matrix molecules to improve wound healing outcomes.

Juan Carlos Palomeque Chávez — Year 3 PhD Student

Juan Carlos obtained his BSc in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Manchester in 2019 followed by an MSc in Advanced Materials Science and Engineering in 2020 at Imperial College London. His PhD research focuses on the development of nucleic acid delivery vectors and gene-activated scaffold systems for wound healing and tissue engineering applications, co-supervised by Prof. Fergal O’Brien.

Yu-yin Joanne Chang — Year 1 PhD Student

Joanne obtained a BSc (Honours) in Anatomy and Development at the University of Edinburgh and studied for a MSc in Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Repair at the University of Edinburgh. Her PhD research centres on tissue engineering, optimising hydrogels for endothelial cell growth and developing an in vitro model to investigate endothelial-macrophage interactions in an ischaemic environment. Her research is funded by the lifETIME-CÚRAM Centre for Doctoral Training and co-supervised by Dr Tom Hodgkinson.

Louise Hosty — Year 1 PhD Student

Louise obtained a BSc in Physiology from the University of Galway (formerly NUIG), and a MSc in Biomedical Sciences specialising in Regenerative Medicine from Maastricht University in The Netherlands. Her master’s research was based at the MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine and focused on the in vitro modelling of the endometrium, and repeated implantation failure. Louise’s PhD research involves working on the development of extracellular matrix-incorporated hydrogels for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers, co-supervised by Prof. Fabio Quondamatteo and funded by the Anatomical Society.

Julie Gawenda — Year 1 MSc Student

Julie graduated with a BSc in Bioengineering (concentrating in Cell & Tissue Engineering) and minor in Biological Sciences from the University of Illinois Chicago in 2023. She received an Irish Research Council Enterprise Partnership Scheme – Postgraduate Scholarship to fund research with Hollister Incorporated, investigating the contribution of intestinal bacteria to the pathophysiology of peristomal skin complications in models of ileostomy. Her MSc project is co-supervised by Dr. Sinéad O’Donnell.

Alumni

Guibin Huang — MSc Student

Guibin Huang obtained a BSc in Pharmaceutical Engineering from Changzhou University, China, and a BSc in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Maynooth University, Ireland, focusing on Medicinal Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Pharmacology. Guibin is currently obtaining an MSc in Biomedical Engineering at Trinity College Dublin. In conjunction with his MSc, he researched the biomimetic design of a matrix-functionalized angiogenic injectable hydrogel scaffold for spinal cord repair, co-supervised by Dr. Ian Woods.

Mina Habaka — Medical Student Researcher

Mina is a fourth-year RCSI medical student and she completed a six-week student-selected project (May – June 2023). Her project focused on making hyaluronic acid hydrogels for the delivery of angiogenic growth factors. She explored the application of these hydrogels to promote wound healing in diabetic foot ulcers.

Riya Manas Sharma — Medical Student Researcher

Riya is an incoming second-year RCSI medical student from Dubai, UAE. She has pursued research internships throughout her high school years in Dubai, worked on health security policy research in Cambridge, UK, and contributed to clinical studies at RCSI hospitals. Her research focuses on the synthesis of hyaluronic acid-based hydrogels for the delivery of pro-angiogenic therapies.