Science and Health Undergraduate Summer Research Internship 2022
Below are details of the Undergraduate Reseach Summer Internships offered in 2022. Details on projects for the current year will be advertised online in March / April of each year.
With the continuous population increase and consumption of resources, we are facing a significant impact to the environment resulting from human activities. Therefore, there is great concern towards monitoring and safeguarding the ecosystem. Traditional approaches for pollution assessment are based on the detection of chemicals in the environment and changes in the diversity of fauna and flora. However, these measurements are weak and limited by their sensitivity limit and cannot produce any diagnostic insight or prediction any future impacts. This lack of realism is reflected on the legislation over novel pollutants and emerging contaminants such as pharmaceutical compounds. Pharmaceuticals make their appearance in the aquatic ecosystem as a result from over-prescription and accessibility, in association with their improper disposal. In relation to waste treatment, pharmaceuticals have been assigned as pseu-persistent contaminants as they cannot be readily biodegradable in the environment and have poor removal rates. Taking into account our lack of knowledge on the underlying mechanisms for toxicity pathways induced by emerging contaminants, Systems Toxicology as a novel field of research aims to bridge the aforementioned gap by introducing molecular markers. This research will assess the molecular changes in the physiology of daphniids upon exposure to selected pharmaceuticals and provide biological information with the potential to predict the presence of actual compounds in water samples. Effectively, the overall goal is to revolutionise risk assessment using daphniids as “a canary in the goldmine” and an early warning system to monitor and predict aquatic pollution. The student will work in a supporting laboratory group environment and will be trained in culturing daphniids and their application in ecotoxicology and deliver a high quality project within a specified time frame. Phenotypic endpoints such as mortality and biochemical markers of physiology will be used to assess the impact of pharmaceuticals on daphniids.
For further information contact the project lead:
Konstantinos Gkrintzalis | School of Biotechnology
Some galaxies produce powerful jets of relativistic plasma that emanate from the centre of the galaxy and can extend beyond the host galaxy environment and into the surrounding intergalactic medium. These relativistic jets are powered by supermassive black holes that are accreting material in the presence of strong magnetic fields. Some of the best images of these jets can be provided by observations at radio wavelengths, e.g. with LOFAR. The observed morphology of the radio jets provides insights into the physical nature of the jets and their interaction with the ambient environment. In this project, the student will classify the jet morphology for radio sources that exhibit linearly polarized radiation at LOFAR wavelengths. They will make use of a publicly available code to automatically classify thousands of these radio jets. They will then investigate how the jet morphology depends on the intrinsic physical properties of the jet, such as luminosity and size, as well as the host galaxy properties and environment.
For further information contact the project lead:
Shane O'Sullivan | School of Physical Sciences
The effects of climate change have already been seen globally, with predictions of higher rainfall and increases in storms modelled for Ireland. Coastal wetlands are known sinks for carbon and can continue to act to mitigate climate change even as sea levels rise.
Recently, scientists have pushed to highlight and protect carbon stored in coastal wetlands, known as blue carbon. Blue carbon is the term for carbon sequestered by the world’s ocean and coastal ecosystems. Tidal wetlands and vegetated coastal marshes have a very high capacity for uptake and long-term storage of carbon.
Bull Island (BI) is a coastal sand spit formed as an unintended consequence of the construction of north and south Bull walls, built over 200 years ago in Dublin Port, to alleviate silting of the shipping route. BI’s tidal wetland zones shares the capability of coastal wetlands to sequester carbon, create wildlife habitats and provide protection from sea-level rise and storms.
We recently published the first study to recognise Bull Island sediments as a functioning blue carbon ecosystem (Grey et al, 2021). We investigated sediment geochemistry and provided information on storage of organic matter and anthropogenic contaminants across BI. The overall study provided a baseline record of sediment geochemistry and the influence of urbanisation on a coastal ecosystem in a highly productive blue carbon area.
Planned research emanating from this baseline study can be subdivided into three separate but complimentary studies:
1. What is the source of carbon in Bull Island (e.g. marine, terrestrial, anthropogenic)?
2. How stable/labile is it?
3. Incorporate data from our recently deployed data buoy (https://www.dcu.ie/predict) to understand marine inputs and sediment dynamics in the bay.
If successful, the candidate will contribute to sediment chemical analysis and field trips in an investigation of the carbon holding capacity of an Irish Blue Carbon zone.
For further information contact the project lead:
Brian Kelleher | School of Chemical Science
Coding Theory is a branch of mathematics that is fundamental to Information Technology, digital communication and data storage. Today, Quantum Information Theory is becoming increasingly important. A Theorem of Calderbank et al. describes a construction of quantum error correcting codes, using Hermitian self-orthogonal linear codes over the field of 4 elements. This is still among the best known methods of constructing quantum codes. The aim of this project is to construct Hermitian self-orthogonal linear codes over the field of 4 elements, and to analyse the corresponding quantum codes. This will be done using a construction designed by the PI and colleagues. It will serve as preliminary data gathering for a larger project, but depending on results, could lead to a short publication.
The project will be both mathematical and computational, with computation carried out using the free software package GAP. Knowledge of Linear Algebra will be essential. Additionally, knowledge of finite fields, complex numbers, abstract algebra or computer programming are desirable.
The successful applicant will meet with the PI regularly, receive training in the fundamentals of Coding Theory, and will be provided with computer code from the beginning. Codes constructed will be recorded and reported on. The project will provide experience in mathematical research, and in quantum information theory, a key digital technology and priority of the HEU Horizon 2027 programme. The successful applicant will also have the opportunity to attend the upcoming meeting of the International Linear Algebra Society at NUI Galway in June, at which the PI is co-organising a symposium on Coding Theory, with many world leading experts in attendance.
Students completing their third year of undergraduate study are most suitable, but exceptional second year students are welcome to apply. If working remotely is preferable then this can be arranged, and applications from any location are encouraged.
For further information contact the project lead:
Ronan Egan | School of Mathematical Sciences
As we go about our everyday life, we are faced with an endless stream of ‘perceptual decisions’ in which information received from the senses must be rapidly evaluated and translated into appropriate courses of action. These elementary choices rely on fundamental mechanisms in the brain that underlie many of our cognitive operations and are essential to our wellbeing. Surprisingly, however, our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying our capacity to make such decisions remains cloudy at best. Recent work by the PI and colleagues (McGovern et al., 2018, Nature Human Behaviour) has helped to identify decision-related signals in the human brain that can be used to interrogate a number of questions relating to how decision-making behaviour arises from neural activity which were previously infeasible. One such question relates to how humans balance the competing demands for speed and accuracy when arriving at decisions. One proposed solution to this problem is that when making urgent decisions, humans strategically reduce the amount of evidence required for decision commitment; however, this suggestion has yet to receive neurophysiological support. In a preliminary finding, the PI has identified a negative-going EEG signal that appears to exhibit all the hallmarks of a discrete neural signature of urgency in that a) it accelerates as time elapses during decision-making and b) it is not driven by sensory evidence accumulation (i.e. it is evidence-independent). This project aims to further explore the characteristics of this putative decision urgency signal by asking participants to make both fast and accurate decisions on a perceptual task as we record their decision-related brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG). It is anticipated that this signal will exhibit distinct profiles for speeded relative to accurate decisions furthering our claim that it represents an index of decision urgency.
For further information contact the project lead:
David McGovern | School of Psychology
Clinical supervision of practice is a central part of the training of psychotherapists, psychologists and other health professionals, and post-qualification attendance at clinical supervision has become increasingly common across various health professions. Clinical supervision is understood to have three main functions: formative, contributing to supervisees’ continued professional development; normative, involving professional, ethical review of supervisees’ work; and restorative, supporting supervisees’ welfare and resilience (Proctor, 1988). Health professionals’ regular engagement in supervision is also promoted as part of good clinical governance by the Irish Health Service Executive (2015).
Traditionally, practitioners became clinical supervisors following experience in the field and did not have training or supervision for their supervisory work. However, there is now a widespread understanding that clinical supervision is a professional practice which also requires specific training and supervision to foster competence and continuing professional development. This study aims to contribute to our understanding of the competencies and processes involved in supervision work, by focusing on an investigation of supervision of supervision practice (also called supervision consultation or metasupervision). This study involves a longitudinal participatory action research study of the work of a once-monthly, two-hour, multidisciplinary metasupervision group (including psychology, nursing, psychotherapy and social care professions). There is a paucity of literature and research on metasupervision and on supervisor development following training in supervision so this research aims to develop understanding and knowledge in this area, which can then inform further developments in supervision training and practice.
For further information contact the project lead:
Dr. Aisling McMahon | School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health
Mental health is a major societal issue in Ireland, with international research reporting that farmers are particularly at risk due to their higher rates of mental issues such as depression, anxiety, stress and burnout. While supports are available, unless farmers reach out and engage with these services, they are ineffective. There is a severe dearth of research examining mental health among Irish farmers and no current research on mental health help-seeking. To address this issue and gain an understanding of the difficulties facing the Irish farming community today, this project aims to identify the prevalence of mental health issues (anxiety, depression, alcohol misuse etc.) and associated factors (stress, sleep issues) in Irish farmers. This project forms part of a larger project which aims to develop a bespoke, evidence-based mental health education programme to improve Irish farmers’ knowledge of mental health issues and help-seeking.
The Intern on this project will be involved in the development and design of an in-depth cross-sectional survey among beef, dairy, and sheep farmers throughout Ireland. They will also get exposure to and experience of recruitment methods and sampling (e.g., post-stratification sampling), Qualitrics (web-based survey tool), applied data collection techniques, as well as SPSS (for data analysis). Students will also have the opportunity to learn / enhance their skills on reviewing the literature, report writing, communicating with stakeholders, community engagement, organising webinars, and communicating the research findings (e.g., development of infographics). Students on this project will form an integral part of the overall research team and will be involved in weekly team meetings and one-on-one supervision.
For further information contact the project lead:
Anna Donnla O'Hagan | School of Health & Human Performance
The Maths Learning Centre in DCU offers free mathematical support to DCU students who are studying any form of mathematics. Over the past two years, this support has moved from in-person to online, and back again, and now both forms of support are offered, depending on student preference. Records are kept of those who attend, and these are analysed on an annual basis to determine patterns of attendance and help to improve the services offered. For this project, an intern will work on the database, extracting the relevant data, and learn how to analyse this effectively, using appropriate statistical tests. A comparison of student interaction in-person versus online will be undertaken. The intern will produce a report on the MLC for the past year, learning how to lay out such a document, along with the best use of charts and tables to report such data. There will also be opportunities to work on a range of smaller sub-projects such as the Maths Learning Centre’s social media presence; or the development of mathematical resources for those who are struggling with mathematics in higher education.
For further information contact the project lead:
Eabhnat Ní Fhloinn | School of Mathematical Sciences
Conventional cancer therapy is infamous for its many adverse side effects and issues. The emergence of nanotechnology has positively improved cancer therapies—the development of drug delivery systems consisting of nanocarriers [1] has enabled targeted and controlled antineoplastic delivery, overcoming the typical toxic side effects of conventional treatments.
In our laboratory, we design and develop such nanocarrier drug delivery systems. In this regard, our research encompasses several critical steps, including the development of the nanomaterial scaffold, its characterisation, its solubilisation in biological solvents, its modification with targeting agents and therapeutics, and its subsequent physiological function. Specific biological functions of interest to our research are drug release, cellular uptake and colocalisation, and cellular viability and cytotoxicity.
Our present aim is to improve the research in cancer therapy treatments with particular attention to the potential use of carbon nano-onions (CNOs) [2] as drug carriers. The PI’s previous research showed that carbon nano-onions are ideal candidates for biomedical applications due to their low toxicity and surface functionalisation flexibility.
I’m positive that the summer project will provide significant assistance to our CNO research, and it will be beneficial for my research team and the School of Chemical Sciences at DCU. With this programme, the undergraduate student will develop research skills, and gain experience using relevant laboratory techniques. Moreover, this project gives the basis for applying to the IRC postgraduate scholarship.
[1] Peer, D. et al. Nanocarriers as an emerging platform for cancer therapy. Nature Nanotech 2, 751–760 (2007).
[2] Bartelmess, J. & Giordani, S. Carbon nano-onions (multi-layer fullerenes): chemistry and applications. Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 5, 1980–1998 (2014).
For further information contact the project lead:
Silvia Giordani | School of Chemical Sciences
This undergraduate research project is concerned with studying limit theorems of random variables under geometrically induced dependence. The student intern will consider n independent random variables and make them dependent by enforcing some constraint on the random variables, e.g. by requiring that the sum of squares of the random variables is fixed. This corresponds to conditioning the vector of random variables to lie on a sphere in high dimension. Changing the constraint changes the geometric shape of the object that the random variables are forced to lie on. The aim of the project is then to study the most important limit theorems (laws of large numbers, central limit theorem) for these dependent random variables, as the number n of random variables goes to infinity. This is original research whose outcomes should be of considerable interest to the general probability community. The project requires the intern to have a good knowledge of classical probability theory as it has for instance been taught in the DCU modules MS117, Probability 1, and MS232, Probability 2. Particularly important is good knowledge of limit theorems for independent random variables, and of characteristic functions.
After a short introduction period (one to two days) to a novel approach developed by the Principal Investigator (PI) to tackle such questions, the student will be able to explore different examples and later systematically study the general case, under guidance from the PI. An introduction into the typesetting software system LaTeX will be given to enable the intern to document their findings in accordance with academic standards. Mentoring by the PI will also cover joint work on the project and guidance on structuring research processes and presenting results.
For further information contact the project lead:
Martin Venker | School of Mathematical Sciences
LifeLab is an innovative health literacy intervention, designed by and for post-primary school adolescents from disadvantaged areas, hosted at Dublin City University. LifeLab is a co-designed learning experience that aims to empower young people to take control of their health. Adolescence has been identified as a crucial life stage to develop lifelong healthy behaviours, and improving health literacy is one possible solution to promote such healthy behaviours. Health literacy refers to the ability of an individual to find, understand, appraise, remember, and apply information to promote and maintain good health and wellbeing. However, interventions promoting health literacy in non-clinical settings are lacking (see Smith et al., 2021), and as a result, the current project represents cutting edge, applied research in action.
The placement student would work with the LifeLab research team, gaining both applied and research experience. The placement may be adapted but will involve:
Engaging with under-represented populations
Developing and trialling interactive content and material for ‘LifeLab’
Using qualitative and quantitative analysis to evaluate the intervention
Tracking the impact of the intervention
As a result, the placement offers the opportunity to increase student knowledge around health literacy, behaviour change and implementation science, whilst also developing an individual's critical thinking and research skills . Critically the placement will support and develop transversal skills such as self-management, perseverance, reflectiveness, and integrity, that go beyond LifeLab, and towards whichever career path the individual chooses.
For further information contact the project lead:
Hannah Goss | School of Health and Human Performance
Dr. Kerrigan’s research group is interested in the development of new organic synthesis methods that can be employed to access complex molecules with compelling pharmacological properties. The development of new methods which provide access to pharmaceutical drugs is of immense importance to society, especially with regard to improved healthcare. The proposed work seeks to develop new efficient routes to a key molecule, known as a gamma-lactone, which can act as a springboard to medicines. This proposal involves plans for the asymmetric synthesis of gamma-lactones from readily available and inexpensive chiral epoxides and ketenes. The importance of gamma-lactones stems from the fact that they are often integral features of pharmaceutical drug molecules, and can be used as intermediates for the synthesis of other pharmaceutical molecules, e.g. remdesivir for COVID-19 treatment. However, stereoselective methods for the synthesis of gamma-lactones, especially 3,4-substituted lactones, are rare and often involve lengthy multistep approaches, have limited substrate scope and compromised diastereoselectivity or enantioselectivity. We propose investigating a bifunctional organocatalyst-catalyzed approach as a new strategy for the enantioselective synthesis of gamma-lactones from epoxides and ketenes. Comparison with other catalytic systems such as Lewis acids (e.g. TiCl4) and Lewis bases (e.g. phosphines) will also be performed. Optimization of the new methodology will be evaluated by NMR and GC-MS analysis of crude product mixtures.
The student who undertakes this project will learn how to carry out organic synthesis using inert atmosphere techniques (including Schlenk techniques), a variety of analytical techniques (e.g. NMR spectroscopy, chiral HPLC, and GC-MS analysis), purification techniques (e.g. reduced pressure distillation, flash column chromatography and recrystallization) and presentation skills (PowerPoint and chalk talk presentations in group meetings). This internship will enable the undergraduate student to gain important research experience and it is anticipated that the results will lead to a competitive IRC GOI postgraduate scholarship application.
For further information contact the project lead:
Nessan Kerrigan | School of Chemical Sciences