Cathal Kearney Assistant Professor

Dr. Cathal Kearney is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Anatomy at RCSI and Module Facilitator of the Gastrointestinal-Hepatology (GIHEP) module, having joined RCSI in 2014. He undertook his PhD training as a Fulbright Scholar through the Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, where his research work (in the Lab of Dr. Myron Spector) focused on the use of a non-invasive acoustic shock-wave device to stimulate periosteal cell proliferation, and the subsequent use of these cells for bone tissue engineering.

With the goal of developing systems that could more precisely control cell behavior, he spent 3 years as a Postdoctoral fellow in Prof. David Mooney’s Laboratory for Cell and Tissue Engineering at Harvard University and the Wyss Institute, Cambridge, USA. His primary focus was on the development and application of an ultrasound-responsive alginate-based system for the on-demand delivery of bioactive agents. In addition, he worked on several other drug delivery systems, with a particular focus on therapeutic delivery for tissue engineering. Following his postdoctoral position at Harvard University, he joined the Tissue Engineering Research Group at RCSI in 2014 under the mentorship of Prof. Fergal O’Brien as a Marie-Skłowdowska Curie Individual Fellow.

He is now a fully independent Principal Investigator and his research themes focus on precise control of therapeutic delivery, the effects of therapeutic timing on efficacy, and integration of these systems within biomaterial scaffolds. his lab is primarily funded by an ERC Starting Grant (2017). Application focus areas include diabetic wound healing, tissue engineering and cancer treatment.