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Research Associates

Team Profiles

XIZHE CHEN

XIZHE CHEN

Research Associate

Xizhe has a background in oral and maxillofacial surgery and enjoyed a career as a surgeon in the hospital of stomatology in China. Xizhe has successfully created preclinical study models of acute myocardial infarction, hind limb ischemia, carotid artery bypass anastomosis, destabilization medial meniscus arthritis, femur fracture fixation and corneal transplantation since working for REMEDI in NUI Galway. He is currently engaged in research within CÚRAM working with Prof. Tim O'Brien.

Meritxell B. Cutrona

Meritxell B. Cutrona

Research Associate

Meritxell received her PhD from the University of Barcelona (Spain) in neuroscience and mouse genetics. During her post-doctoral work at the Negri Sud Institute (Italy) she carried investigations on trafficking between the ER and Golgi complex in human cells. Meritxell is involved in a CÚRAM project lead by Prof. Jeremy Simpson in UCD, aimed at applying high-throughput imaging technologies to investigate intracellular trafficking pathways in nanomaterials uptake and toxicity.

Andrew Douglas

Andrew Douglas

Research Associate

Andrew obtained a B.Sc in Zoology at Queens University, Belfast and M.Sc in Biotechnology from NUI Galway. In CÚRAM he is working under the supervision of Dr Karen Doyle on an industry project that aims to develop novel characterisation methods for thrombi obtained from acute ischemic stroke patients.

Shahen Andonian

Shahen Andonian

Lead Engineer

Shahen has joined CÚRAM as a Lead Engineer on an industry project.Shahen holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from WIT, Boston, USA.He has over 20 year’s experience in the medical device industry and has worked as a Senior Engineer in Boston Scientific, Boston, Thermedical, Waltham, USA and Creganna Medical TE.,Galway.Shahen is working under the supervision of Dr Faisal Sharif on developing concept designs and product solutions for the percutaneous approach to anterior wall infarct repair.

Patrizio Mancuso

Patrizio Mancuso

Research Associate

Patrizio received an MSc in Medical Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine, from the University of Milan. During his PhD in REMEDI, NUI Galway he developed a protocol to track intra-articularly injected stem cells. He is interested in cartilage regeneration and the immunological aspect of cell therapy. Currently he is investigating the mechanism of action of mesenchymal stem cells to prevent the progression of osteoarthritis, under the supervision of Dr Mary Murphy.

Claire Dooley

Claire Dooley

Research Associate

Claire has a BSc in Biotechnology from NUI Galway and has a keen interest in cell therapy development.Claire is currently working under the supervision of Dr Mary Murphy. The project involves investigating the mechanism of action of mesenchymal stem cells to improve their efficacy as a cell therapy to treat osteoarthritis.

Fernando Otero Díez

Fernando Otero Díez

Research Associate

Fernando Otero received a Bachelor Degree in Chemistry and an International Master Degree in Molecular Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at Autonoma University of Madrid (Spain). His research interest include: biomedical devices, surface characterization. Fernando is based in the University of Limerick working as a research assistant and currently is working on the chemical cleaning of biomedical devices using techniques such as SEM, EDS and XPS under the supervision of Dr Tofail Syed

Anne-Marie Miller

Anne-Marie Miller

Project Manager

Anne-Marie, an experienced multidisciplinary scientific research coordinator, holds a PhD in Neuroscience from TCD. As Project Manager, CRDI CÚRAM partnership, Anne-Marie will focus on the critical analyses of regulatory pathways and revisions of legislation for complex medical device clinical trials, development of a web portal providing regulatory knowledge and information on clinicians working in areas of interest to the medical devices sector,new E-learning development and coordination of training.

Eka Mukeria

Eka Mukeria

Research Associate

Eka is a Medical Doctor from Tbilisi, Georgia. She holds an MSc in Regenerative Medicine from NUI Galway. Her research area focuses on Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells. She is currently working to identify and develop novel factors in the modulation of osteoarthritis by mesenchymal stem cells, under the supervision of Dr Mary Murphy.