Topics such as developing new treatments for depression and cancer will be presented at a competition, Science for All, on Wednesday 28 March 2012, in Boole 4 at 7pm.

 

The competition seeks to find the postgraduate student who can explain their work the most clearly and in the most interesting way. All are welcome and admission is free.

The five finalists are:

• Bruno Godinho, Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience andSchoolofPharmacy, UCC “Hunting Disease Messages in the Brain” (using silent messenger RNA to treat Huntington’s disease);
• Nazmul Hossain, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, UCC and Tyndall National Institute “Nature Inspired Optical Biosensor for Better Future Diagnosis” (better diagnosis of cancers)
• Anna Iwaszuk, Department of Chemistry, UCC and Tyndall National Institute, “New ‘energy drink’ for Earth citizen – Hydrogen” designing (new catalysts for renewable energy)
• Fionn O’Brien, Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre andSchoolofPharmacy, UCC “A new approach to overcome the barrier to successful treatment of depression?” (getting drugs across blood brain barrier); and
• Christine O’Carroll, Department of Biochemistry and Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, UCC “Macrophages: Friend or Foe?”(understanding chronic inflammation).

The panel of judges for the Final will be chaired by Ms Anne Marie O’Sullivan, H+A Marketing+PR and also includes Mr Niall Murray, Education Correspondent , Irish Examiner, Mr Trevor Holmes, Vice President for External Relations, UCC and Dr Julie O’Donovan, Winner Science for All and Science Speak intervarsity competition (2009).

The competition is jointly organised by the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science and the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, UCC. This year’s competition has been sponsored by UCC, the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre and the Tyndall National Institute.

Professor William Reville, Public Awareness of Science Officer, UCC, will act as MC on the night.

Finalist, Bruno Godinho, will discuss how technology he is developing might in the future be used for treatment of Huntingon’s Disease in his talk “Hunting disease messages in the brain”  Bruno is from Portugal, has a BSc in Pharmacy from Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saude de Lisboa, Portugal and an MSc in Clinical Pharmacology, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Besides research he enjoys Salsa dancing, travelling, volleyball, photography and hiking.

Nazmul Hossain, from Bangladesh, will talk about his research on optical biosensors which might one day be used for diagnosis of cancer. He has a BSc in electrical and electronic engineering from the Bangaladesh University of Engineering and Technology. In his free time he loves to read about nature: its history, self-balancing, progression and probable future.

Anna Iwaszuk was born in Poland. She obtained BSc degree in Analytical Chemistry from Hogeschool Zeeland in theNetherlandsand MSc in Chemical and Process Engineering from Technical University of Szczecin, Poland. Her research uses metal oxides for renewable energy applications. Anna is keen on photography, likes nature and trekking with family and friends.

Fionn O’Brien from Cork will speak about the technology he is developing to overcome the blood brain barrier to improve treatment of depression. Fionn has a BPharm for which the pre-registration year involved 6 month periods working with Bayer Ltd in Dublin and O'Sullivan's pharmacy in Wilton before becoming a registered pharmacist (MPSI) and then returning to UCC to do his PhD. He has a keen interest in all sports, in particular GAA and squash, and plays gaelic football with Douglas GAA club and captained the UCC men's A squash team to our first "A" intervarsity victory in 30 years in February this year.

Christine O’Carroll, from Tralee, has a BSc in Biomedical Sciences, UCC. Christine will talk about her research which will lead to a better understanding of chronic inflammatory diseases e.g. inflammatory bowel disease. Christine enjoys sports (GAA & rugby) as well as travel and music.

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