Prof. David Hoey

Dr. David Hoey is an Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering within the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and PI within the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering in Trinity College Dublin (TCD). Dr. Hoey leads a multidisciplinary experimental mechanobiology research group where his goal is to integrate engineering mechanics into the understanding of the molecular basis of physiology and disease. Dr. Hoey's research has discovered novel mechanisms by which bone can sense and respond to a biophysical stimulus. In particular, he is focused on determining indirect and direct biophysical regulation of mesenchymal stem cell contributions to bone formation and repair and how this is altered in disease. These platforms have potential to result in new therapeutics that mimic the beneficial effect of biophysical stimuli and treat orthopaedic diseases such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. In 2009 Dr. Hoey received his PhD in Bioengineering from the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering and went on to complete postdoctoral fellowships in Columbia University in the US and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland under the Marie-Curie/IRCSET programme. In 2012 he joined the University of Limerick as a Lecturer and was awarded the European Research Council Starting Grant in 2013 to explore the role the primary cilium in stem cell mechanobiology in bone and has recently returned to TCD in 2015 as Associate Professor to continue this work.

Postdoctoral Researchers

Cansu Gorgun

Email: GORGUNC@tcd.ie Twitter: @gorgun_cansu

Cansu is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) post-doctoral fellow at Hoey Lab in collaboration with Curtis Clock Lab, RCSI. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biotechnologies in Translational Medicine (Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine) in 2021 from University of Genova, Italy. Her current MSCA project addresses the clinical problem of large bone defect repair by harnessing extracellular vesicles derived from metabolically modulated macrophages to promote the regenerative response in the long-term healing cascade. Specifically, her research goal is to generate an immuno-engineered scaffold with these multitargeted regenerative EVs to maximise bone repair.

Mathieu Brunet

Email: BRUNETMY@tcd.ie Twitter: @MathieuBrunet_

Mathieu is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Hoey Lab. He undertook his Ph.D. in Regenerative Nanomedicine at the University of Birmingham (UK) within the Healthcare Technologies Institute, developing bioengineering strategies to enhance the therapeutic potential of extracellular vesicles for bone repair. Building on the experience gained, his main project currently focuses on mechanically-activated extracellular vesicles and their incorporation into melt electrowritten materials to improve bone defect repair. Mathieu previously obtained a Master of Research in Cancer Nanomedicine from the Robert Gordon University (UK) and he also graduated from both University of Limoges (France) with a BSc in Cell Biology and from the Robert Gordon University with a BSc (Hons) (1st) in Biosciences with Biomedical Sciences. 

PhD Researchers

Rosario Milazzo

Email: milazzor@tcd.ie

Rosario is a first year PhD student who completed his Bachelor's and Master's degree at Politecnico di Torino in Biomedical Engineering, specializing in Bionanotechnologies. He completed his thesis at Merkel Lab of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität of Munich, on the development of a microfluidic approach for the synthesis of lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles for siRNA delivery.
His current work in the Hoey Lab focuses on the the development of cartilage and synovium models on-a-chip.

Dan Ahern

Email: ahernda@tcd.ie Twitter: @dpahern

Dan is a third year PhD candidate in the Hoey lab. He completed his undergraduate medical degree and Master’s in Surgery from University College Cork (UCC). After completing his Core Surgical Training through the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), he joined the Hoey lab. He is currently researching skeletal stem cells for bone regeneration.

Morgan Cobban

Email: cobbanm@tcd.ie Twitter: @MorganElizaCo

Morgan is a final year PhD candidate in the Hoey lab. She completed her MSc in Bioengineering at Trinity College Dublin and her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at Arizona State University. She is continuing her work from her MSc in the Hoey lab, developing a microphysiological model of bone to better understand the pathophysiology of osteoporosis. She is currently completing a 3 month research collaboration at the University of Birmingham under the supervision of Dr. Alicia El Haj.

Stéphane Petrousek

Email: petrouss@tcd.ie

Stéphane is a fourth year PhD student in the Hoey lab. He graduated from both Ecole des Mines de Saint-Étienne in France with a master in biomedical engineering, and Imperial College London with a MSc in tissue engineering and biomaterials. He completed his thesis at Imperial College on the development of biocompatible microparticle drug delivery platforms for the treatment of dug resistant pulmonary tuberculosis. His current research in the Hoey lab focuses on the role of osteoimmunology in biomaterial mediated bone repair.

Carolina Martins

Email: martinsc@tcd.ie Twitter: @CarolinaMSMart

Carolina is currently a first year PhD Student. She completed a Common European Masters in Biomedical Engineering, obtaining a double masters with a specialisation in tissue engineering. Her MSc thesis was on extracellular matrix derived hydrogels for corneal repair and regeneration with the Ahearne lab. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Her current work focuses on functionalised melt electrowritten scaffolds with mechanically activated extracellular vesicles for bone repair.

Mimma Maggio

Email: maggiom@tcd.ie

Mimma is a third year PhD candidate in the Hoey Lab. She completed her Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees at Politecnico di Torino in Biomedical Engineering with a specialisation in Bionanotechnologies. She completed her thesis at the BioMed Lab of Politecnico di Torino on the design of a biomimetic electrospun scaffold for the in vitro modelling of cardiac fibrosis. Her current work in the Hoey Lab focuses on Mechanically Activated Extracellular Vesicles as a multi-targeted therapy to enhance bone regeneration.

Luke Madden

Email: maddenlu@tcd.ie

Luke is a second year PhD researcher in the Hoey Lab. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Biophysical Chemistry in University College Dublin (UCD), during which he gained an interest in tissue engineering. He then joined the Hoey Lab with the CDT in Advanced Characterisation of Materials. His work is on microphysiological models of bone for the development and characterisation of a model of osteoarthritis-on-a-chip.

MSc Students

TBA

Email: TBA

TBA

Visiting / Internship Students

Sofia Kushchak

Email: kushchas@tcd.ie

Sofia Kushchak is currently a third-year biomedical engineering student at Trinity College Dublin. She was awarded the HRB Summer Scholarship providing her with the opportunity to work in the Hoey Lab, where she is gaining valuable hands-on experience and learning from the researchers, currently focusing on the study of extracellular vesicles. She wishes to complete her masters with a specialisation in tissue engineering. She is particularly interested in exploring innovative approaches to tissue regeneration and repair, aiming to contribute to the development of cutting-edge medical treatments/technologies

Alumni