Profile

Photo:

Ivor Geoghegan

My CV

  • Education:

    NUI Galway (2014-2015), NUI Galway (2007-2011), St Mary’s College, Galway (2002-2007), Scoil Bhríde, Shantalla (1994-2002)

  • Qualifications:

    Bachelor of Science (Anatomy), MSc in Biomedical Science

  • Work History:

    Lake Region Medical (2012-2014)

  • Current Job:

    PhD Student in Biomedical Engineering at NUI Galway

  • About Me:

    I like to solve problems and understand more about how the body works

  • Read more

    I am from Galway city where I went to school and college. I always loved science and maths and used to ask my teachers lots of questions. Sometimes, they didn’t have the answers and I would go to try and find out, which usually meant reading an encyclopedia (it’s like wikipedia, except in a book) to find the answer.

    That desire to find out the answers never went away and it led me a career in science and engineering. Here I get to spend all day finding answers to questions.

    When I’m not at work, I like to read and watch TV (especially science fiction). I also like to play sports like tag rugby and running.

  • Read more

    Bone cells are very smart and they can sense when you are walking around and when you are standing still. They use special sensors to find this out. We know how some of the sensors work, but not all of them.

    I spend my time studying more about how two of these sensors work. Knowing more about how they work expands our knowledge of the human body, but it also helps us to understand more about diseases where these sensors don’t work the way they should, such as in osteoporosis

  • My Typical Day:

    I spend a lot of time in the lab making sure my bone cells are alive and happy while I do my experiments. The rest of the time, I am at my computer trying to understand my results.

  • Read more

    At work, I spend my days growing bone cells in the lab. I then push fluid over the cells to simulate the forces experienced within bone due to everyday activities, such as walking. I can then stain the cells with different dyes to look at different parts of the cell. Doing this, I can find the special sensors within bone cells used to sense mechanical forces. I can all look at how these sensors work by measuring the chemical signals they produce.

    I learn more about how these sensors work so I can figure out how they go wrong in diseases such as osteoporosis.

    A look at a bone cells stained for the special sensors in green and yellow:

  • My Interview

    • What did you want to be after you left school?

      A doctor

      Were you ever in trouble at school?

      No

      Who is your favourite singer or band?

      So many... Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, Queen to name a few

      What's your favourite food?

      Stir fry

      If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

      As long as everyone I love is happy and healthy, I can't ask for more... except for maybe a cool robot...

      Tell us a joke.

      How did the skeleton know that it was going to rain? Because he could feel it in his bones.

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