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 Mehran Ashrafi

Mehran is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Computational Cancer Mechanobiology at the University of Galway. His research focuses on computational modelling of cellular and tissue mechanics, with particular interests in mechanobiology, tumour microenvironments, and cell–matrix interactions. He has a background in computational biomechanics and has previously developed computational models to investigate the mechanical behaviour of biological systems. His current work aims to understand how mechanical cues influence cancer cell behaviour and tumour progression..

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.