Trinity Researcher Wins Engineers Ireland Biomedical Research Medal

Feb 10, 2012

Trinity postgraduate student Eamon Sheehy of the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering was recently awarded the 2012 Engineers Ireland Biomedical Research Medal for his significant contribution to the field of biomedical engineering research.  Eamon was selected as the winner from a shortlist of four finalists after presenting his research paper at the 18th Annual Conference of the Bioengineering Section of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.

Eamon’s research paper, entitled Engineering Osteochondral Constructs through Spatial Regulation of Endochondral Ossification, focuses on using adult stem cells to engineer grafts to replace damaged tissues in joints such as the knee. At present there are limited surgical options for treating damage to the surface of synovial joints. Left untreated, these defects can lead to the development of osteoarthritis.  Eamon’s research aims to address this problem by engineering tissue grafts in the laboratory that may in the future be used to treat damaged or diseased articular or elastic cartilage in joints.  At the conference Eamon was presented with a commemorative Engineers Ireland medal and a cheque for €1000 sponsored by Boston Scientific.

At the same conference another Trinity postgraduate student, Stephen Thorpe, won the Established Researcher Category award for his talk entitled External mechanical stimulus can override the influence of local substrate in determining mesenchymal stem cell fate.  Both Stephen and Eamon’s research is supervised by Dr Daniel Kelly, lecturer in the School of Engineering and Principal Investigator at the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering in the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute.

Trinity postgraduate student Eamon Sheehy.