People

Dr Eóin McEvoy, Group Leader

Dr Eóin McEvoy is an Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Galway, where he leads a research group focused developing advanced computational and experimental models that provide new understanding of cell and tissue remodelling in cancer and autoimmune disease. He carried out his postdoctoral research in the US with the Center for Engineering Mechanobiology (CEMB) at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn). There he developed an interest in cancer mechanobiology, exploring the role of gap junctions in cell size control and investigating the driving forces for tumour cell invasion and metastasis. Dr. McEvoy received his Ph.D. (Biomedical Engineering) from the National University of Ireland Galway.

Email: eoin.mcevoy@universityofgalway.ie

Dr Raja Kumar Vadivelu

Raja Vadivelu is a postdoctoral researcher. His current aims are to develop a realistic 3D mechanobiological model of cancer to understand how cellular mechanics drive chemoresistance. He received his Ph.D. in 2017 under the supervision of Prof. Nam Trung Nguen at the Queensland Micro-Nano Technology (QMNC), Australia. The Ph.D. work conceptualized a new microfluidic platform called floating liquid marble to generate 3D culture for studying cell-cell interaction. In 2019-2021 he was awarded the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Fellowship with the Department of Chemical System Engineering at the University of Tokyo, under the supervision of Professor Yasuyuki Sakai. At Tokyo, he developed a simple hydrogel-based cell-material interface platform that directs induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)-derived embryonic organoids through a mechanobiological approach. He later, proceeded as a Special Postdoctoral Fellow (SPDR) at the RIKEN Institute in Kobe, Japan in 2021-2022 to further study on clarifying the impact of mechanical confinement on the early rudiments of the developing central nervous system from iPSCs. Apart from research, he is interested in mountain hiking.

Dr Vatsal Kumar

Vatsal is a postdoctoral researcher in Biomedical Engineering. He graduated from Manipal University, India in 2014 with a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering after which he went on to work in the industry specializing in medical electronics. In 2017, he came to the University of Galway to pursue an MSc in Biomedical Engineering, investigating the effects of conditioned media from mammary carcinoma cells and 3D gelatin-substrate stiffness on osteoblast-mediated osteoclastogenesis. In 2022, he completed his PhD research entitled ‘Mechanobiological model systems for bone metastases mimetics’, funded by the Irish Research Council, and supervised by Prof. Laoise McNamara and Dr. Eoin McEvoy. His postdoctoral research now aims to develop advanced in-vitro and computational models as effective surrogates for the in vivo metastatic bone microenvironment.

Irish Senthilkumar

Irish is a PhD researcher in Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science (Data Science Institute, University of Galway). Prior to joining this research group, he completed a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science & IT, and a Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence. He is currently using his skillset in high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and biomedical engineering to develop agent-based models for predicting mechanosensitive tumour growth. Irish is co-supervised with Dr Enda Howley and funded by an Irish Research Council (IRC) Postgraduate Scholarship.

Thomas Hayes

Thomas Hayes is a PhD researcher in Biomedical Engineering and Applied Mathematics, working on multi-scale models for muscular force generation and atrophy. Prior to joining he completed his Bachelors of Mathematical Science at the University of Galway. His work is co-supervised by Dr Giuseppe Zurlo and funded by a University of Galway College of Science and Engineering Postgraduate Scholarship.

Brian Harkin

Brian completed his M.E. and B.E. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Galway. He is currently completing a PhD where his research aims to enhance cancer therapy delivery by uncovering the biophysical processes that govern tumour growth, specifically through the use of a unique population of T cells known as γδ T cells. The project is funded by SFI through the LifETIME CDT Fellowship Program and is supervised by Dr Eoin McEvoy and co-supervised by Prof. Laoise McNamara.

Charlotte Turner

Charlotte is a PhD researcher with specific interest in 3D breast cancer models. She is currently working on the ERC project, investigating the mechanobiology of tumour growth and therapy resistance. Prior to joining the group, Charlotte completed a BSc in Biology at Lancaster University and worked as a researcher for the Giamas lab at the University of Sussex.

Orlaith McSweeney

Orlaith is a PhD researcher who completed her B.E. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Galway prior to joining the team. Orlaith’s PhD work involves both computational and experimental modelling for the prediction of patient-specific cancer cell behaviour. Specifically, Orlaith will develop novel microfluidic systems to characterise active cell biomechanics, and coupled predictive models using advanced FEA and agent-based modelling, under the supervision of Dr Eoin McEvoy.

Matteo Simeone

Matteo holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Physics and a Master’s degree in the Physics of Complex Systems, both attained from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy. Matteo is currently pursuing a PhD in Computational Biomedicine under the supervision of Eoin McEvoy. Using advanced multicellular simulations, his research focuses on modelling tumour growth and drug diffusion dynamics within tumour masses. Matteo’s work is funded by the European Research Council.