Caroline Barry

Contact details:

Adaptive Sensors Group

National Centre for Sensor Research

Dublin City University

Collins Avenue

Dublin 9

Ireland

Tel: +353 1700 7604

Email: caroline.barry2@mail.dcu.ie

Qualifications:

B.Sc. Industrial Microbiology- University College Dublin (UCD)

M.Sc. Biomedical Diagnostics- Dublin City University (DCU)

Background:

I spent four years in UCD undertaking a degree in Industrial Microbiology. Here I learned about the different aspects of microorganisms and how they relate to different areas of the industrial sector ranging from genetics, environmental, biosynthesis to medical. My fourth year project involved looking at bacterium known as Rhodococcus Equi. This bacterium is an important pathogen of pneumonia of foals. The basis of the project was to determine the virulence of the virulence associated antigens.

I worked as a Clinical Data Coordinator in Quintiles and Innovex in Dublin. My main duties and responsibilities included all aspects of validation of Clinical Trials data. This involved, among other tasks, reviewing data discrepancies, statistical analysis, generating and updating data queries, the review and update of quality control tasks and ensuring that patient data listings were correctly maintained in compliance with the national and international regulatory authority.

I undertook a Masters in Biomedical diagnostic here in DCU. This was a multidisciplinary course that dealt with a wide range of topics from genetics, immunology to nanobiotechnology. The project for my Masters was looking at a centrifugal microfluidic device for the determination of proteins in milk. In December 2009, I started my PhD in the National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR) here in DCU.

Current Project work

Ionogel-biosensor: Novel Ionogels Based on Ionic Liquids as platforms to measure Enzyme Activity of Glucose Oxidase in Real Time.

Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death, is estimated that there are 170 million diabetics worldwide. Point-of-care (POC) glucose biosensors play an important role in the management blood sugar levels in patients with diabetes. One of the most commonly used enzymes used in glucose biosensors is Glucose Oxidase (GOx). GOx is one of the most widely studied enzymes. It is a biorecognition enzyme which recognises the glucose molecule and acts as a catalyst to produce gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide in the presence of glucose and oxygen. The aim of the project is to determine the enzyme activity of glucose oxidase in a novel material known as ionogels. This will provide a platform for measuring the enzyme activity for a wide range of enzymes.

Previous Projects

M.Sc. project: Optical approaches for the determination of protein in biological matrices.

B.S. project: Mapping of Domain VapA involved in interactions between VapA, VapG Opening Reading Frame 10 and Opening Reading Frame 13.