PResident's RePORt 2009/2010 - University College Cork

Foreword
UCC at a Glance
Academic Developments
Teaching and Learning
Research
College Reports:
Arts, Celtic
Studies and Social
Sciences
Business and Law
Medicine and Health
Science, Engineering and
Food Science
Events
Student Experience
Sports and Recreation
Buildings and Estates
Cork University Press
Finance
Governing Body
IRIS Appendix
50
Professor Tom Cotter
• 2 photon microscopy image of the retina was selected following
international competition as the November image for the
Norvartis/Alcon Calendar 2011.
Dr Karen Keeshan
• Named in the Sunday Independent annual ‘Forty under 40’ list
of Ireland’s brightest and best.
• Appointed the Irish management committee member of the EU
funded COST Action BM0801 (European Genetic and Epigenetic
Study in MDS and AML – EuGESMA), a network of European
Leukaemia researchers, for the coordination of nationally funded
research activities.
• Invited to speak at the Elevator Pitch session at SFI annual
summit, 2010.
• Invited to speak at the Biochemical Society meeting on
‘Pseudokinases as modulators of signal transduction in normal
and cancer cells’.
• Became a Council member and organiser of annual meeting of
Irish Association for Cancer Research.
• Organised and was a sub-group member for Translational
Research Conference (June 2009).
• Invited to attend an SFI and Dana Farber joint meeting in Harvard,
US, to develop collaborative links between UCC and Dana
Farber (February 2010).
Dr Justin McCarthy
• Established the Annual Pfizer Postgraduate Scholarship in
Biotechnology. The two-year Scholarship will consist of an
annual student scholarship, an annual MSc Biotech research
bursary along with a discretionary fund for the promotion and
recognition of research excellence.
• Established the annual Lilly Postgraduate Scholarship in
Biotechnology. The five-year scholarship will consist of an annual
student bursary for the recognition of academic excellence
Dr Ruaidhrí Carmody
• Invited to present his research on gene regulation at the Wellcome
Trust Conference on Nuclear Sub-structures and Disease which
took place at the Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK.
Student Achievements
• Maura Hannon (PhD with Dr Karen Keeshan) was awarded
€72,009 by the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering
& Technology (IRCSET) Postgraduate Research award for ‘A
study of the regulation of Trib family members in normal and
leukaemia development’. Maura also won best oral presentation
at the Haematology Association of Ireland annual meeting in
Galway (October 2010).
• Ciaran Forde (MSc with Dr Karen Keeshan) won an oral
presentation prize at the Irish area section of the UK Biochemical
Society annual meeting (November 2009).
• Jamie Urquhart (PhD with Dr Ruaidhrí Carmody) won an IRCSET
Postgraduate Research Award of €72,000 to study ‘The regulation
of the alternative pathway of NF-kappaB activation’.
• Stephen Duggan (Biotechnology) was awarded the annual Pfizer
Postgraduate Scholarship in Biotechnology.
• Sandra O’Shea (Biotechnology) was awarded the annual Pfizer
Postgraduate Research Bursary in Biotechnology.
• Karen Williams (MSc Biotechnology) was awarded the annual
Centocor bursary for academic excellence.
• Megan Coakley (PhD) was awarded a prize for best postgraduate
student oral presentation and Anmol Kieran (PhD) won the best
poster prize at the Department of Biochemistry Annual Research
Day (February 2009).
Department of Chemistry
Academic Highlights
• Glantreo, a spin-out company founded by Dr Justin Holmes
and Professor Michael Morris was named the Royal Society of
Chemistry’s ‘SME of the Month’ (November 2009). It later signed
a $10m deal with a major US chromatography company (March
2010).
• Jesse Omamogho (PhD with Professor Jeremy Glennon) won the
Csaba Horváth Young Scientist award for aiding the development