AIT Research Student Awarded Prestigious PhD Scholarship

Laura Grehan secured the Embark scholarship from the Irish Research Council which will enable her to continue her research to PhD level. She is one of a prestigious group of researchers in the country to receive this award, with less than 15% of applicants successful in the latest Embark award call.

Her research will focus on the development of novel scaffolds for bone regeneration applications. More specifically, it will investigate the toxic properties of these scaffolds so as to ascertain their potential for the treatment of bone defects, such as those caused by trauma or disease.

The Athlone native graduated with an honours degree in toxicology, coming first in her class. Prior to studying at AIT, Laura completed her secondary education at St Joseph’s College, Summerhill, sitting the Leaving Certificate in 1998. Prior to beginning her Master’s, Laura had research involvement in a multi-partner European Framework 6 programme in AIT.

Laura’s Master’s degree, entitled “Development of the next generation of artificial scaffolds for bone regeneration”, was funded under the AIT President’s Research Seed Fund 2010. Supervised by Dr Luke Geever, Prof. Clement Higginbotham and Dr Sinead Devery, Laura’s research project is highly multidisciplinary and complements core research strengths of the institute in biopolymer and toxicological research.

AIT’s dedicated research centres, the Materials Research Institute (MRI) and Bioscience Research Institute (BRI) have positioned AIT as a world leader in hydrogel research over the past 15 years, as evidenced by numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings.

Director of AIT’s Materials Research Institute and lead supervisor on the IRCSET funding proposal, Prof. Clement Higginbotham, stated: “We have a great team working here in the MRI and I’m sure Laura would be the first to acknowledge the role that the whole research team has played in her studies to date, including Marie Curie Research Fellow at Harvard University, Dr Declan Devine, and fellow PhD researcher, John Killion.”

According to Dr Luke Geever, “Tissue engineering is regarded by many as one of the hottest fields in twenty-first century medicine. The President’s Research Seed Fund is a fantastic initiative and highlights AIT’s commitment to research and has given Laura the opportunity to work on a cutting-edge research study. Embark is a highly competitive funding scheme targeted by the top universities and IoTs in Ireland. Laura’s success highlights that the research we are carrying out is going in the right direction.”

Funded by the State under the National Development Plan, the Embark Initiative is aimed at knowledge creation in the sciences, engineering and technology, for the long term future benefit of society and the economy.

Source: Athlone Institute of Technology - Dublin