PiERG Research Group Members

 

Dr Sandra Lenihan 

Head of PiERG has nineteen years of academic experience (UL, UCC and MTU) with six years of pharmaceutical industrial experience. Extensive success in securing and managing multiple industrial-academia research collaborations to the value of €1.5m in income for ALTANA Pharma and MTU Cork. Effective cross discipline and cross institutional research collaborator (UCC, UL, UCD, WIT and Industry). Excellent track record in leading and designing courses tailored to industrial needs and multiple successful applications for HEA Springboard funding.  Significant experience in managing pharmaceutical industrial-led research (mentored five postdocs from Researcher to Research Fellow Grades). Successfully secured funding at both National and European levels to the value of  €1 Million for MTU Cork (as Principal Investigator). Track record includes:  7 peer-reviewed publications,  2 book chapters, 1 invention disclosure,  5 conference papers, 12 oral presentations, 8 Posters presentations at national and international conferences. Winner of Partnership Alliance Pharma Awards (MTU Cork, PMTC and Pfizers), 2018. Nominated by MTU Cork (formerly CIT) in 2018 for ICT/MEEC Bridge Network: Invention of the Year Awards. Active Member of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Technology Centre (PMTC) and Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre.  Academic representative on PMTC Steering Committee (2015-2020). chemeng/staff/sandralenihan

 

Dr Caroline O’Sullivan

PET Dept., member of PiERG, has a proven track record of twenty years (academic and industrial experience) investigating into leading edge research in the USA, UK and in Ireland for applications as sensory devices, medical devices, chemical processes and drug delivery systems which has made significant contributions to the advancement of technologies (plasma technology platforms, blasting deposition processes and powder processing), material science (substituted apatites, sensory polymers and formulation chemistry) and therapeutic delivery systems (microneedle and nanoparticulate systems). Successfully developed proof of concept to commercialisation of research; secured patents for formulation and chemical deposition processes as well as technology transfer projects (academic and industrial settings). Experience in conducting collaborative research between universities (School of Pharmacy (UCC), Tyndall Institute (UCC)), partnerships between industry (Leo Pharmaceuticals, EnBIO, MIRC) and academic research as well as research centres (CAPPA, PMBR).  Supervision of level 10 PhD programmes and level 9 Erasmus research projects. Substantiated research output; patent publications (3), leading internationally recognised peer-review and non-peer reviewed journals (16) and book chapters (3). Evidence of sustained output in leading high impact journals which includes a h index of 10; i10 index of 9 and citations 450 (source Google Scholar 22nd March 2021). Have successfully secured research funding 560K and 126K teaching funding.

 

 

Dr Alexander Krok

PET Dept., member of PiERG, has significant experience in computational modelling with a deep knowledge in theoretical aspects of chemical engineering, powder technology and in pharmaceutical engineering processes. Research Experience: Researcher at Slovak University of Technology (Slovakia, 2007-2014); Marie Curie IEF research fellow at University of Surrey (UK, 2014-2016); Senior Scientist at Research Centre of Pharmaceutical Engineering (Austria, 2016-2017); Research Fellow at CIT (Ireland, 2017-2019) and Marie Curie Career FIT research fellow at CIT (Ireland, 2019-2020). Track record includes: 1 patent, 1 book, 2 chapters in book, 7 peer-reviewed publications as a first author (with average IF=3.2), 23 standard conference papers, 15 oral presentation with additional 7 invited oral presentation, active reviewer in 4 peer-review journals in Elsevier. Additional Information: secured >€350k from external grant funding: J&J-RCPE (€100k); Pfizer-RCPE (€100k); GSK-RCPE (€100k); Early Research Projects (€50k); 2 x Research exchange – Erasmus (€1.5k, SK-UK) and Royal Irish Academy Grant (€2k). Performed and supporting teaching and supervision activities at Slovak University of Technology, University of Surrey, Cork Institute of Technology. More than 90 citations in Elsevier, h-index = 5, Member of Advance Pharmaceutical Manufacturing (APM) & Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Technology Centre (PMTC).

 

 

Dr  Keith Bryan, 

MBM Dept. member of PiERG, has over 25 years’ experience in Design and Computational Modelling. Research: Secured over €500k in research funding to date and has research supervision experience at level 9, 10 and Post Doctorate level (14 students) as well as over 100 level 8 Projects spanning a broad range of topics in both Mechanical, Biomedical and related Engineering disciplines. Over 28 years lecturing experience in a broad range of subjects in Mechanical & Biomedical Engineering and currently Co-ordinator of the MEng Integrated Masters Biomedical Engineering programme. Patents: Inventor on Two Patents (one currently licenced through MTU) and one IDF. External Engagement: Strong links with a number of Local Companies (start-ups and SMEs) through engineering support Convenor CEN/NSAI Work Group 14.