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Meet the team
principal investigator
Cathal J. Kearney, PhD
Department of Biomedical Engineering, UMass Amherst
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
Investigator, Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research Center
Investigator, Trinity Biomedical Engineering
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Senior Research Fellow, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
Postdoc, Mooney Lab and Wyss Institute, Harvard University
Ph.D., Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
S.M., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
B.A., B.A.I., Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
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Fun Fact: I still daydream that I should have gone for American Idol over Grad school...then I recall that Carrie Underwood won idol that year and I get back to work!
Graduate students
John Amante
BS Biomedical Engineering
Project: Revascularization of diabetic foot ulcers
Fun Fact: I'm allergic to Christmas trees
Haritha Jacob
MSc Pharmacy
Project: Development of a novel circadian drug delivery platform and its application in post-traumatic osteoarthritis
Fun Fact: I love food, I love life, and I love travel. I easily get excited over small things (although Cathal might disagree!) In addition to the PhD, the only thing I want to do full time is to get rich by being a pharmacist.
Juan Carlos Palomeque
BS Materials Science and Engineering
MS Advanced Materials Science and Engineering
Project: Biomimetic multi-layered scaffolds for wound healing
Fun Fact: I enjoy working out, playing sports (specially soccer and swimming), photography and cooking. Proud Ecuadorian and Latino!
Tailynn McCarty
BS Chemical Engineering
Project: Impact of age in full-thickness skin transplant healing
Fun Fact: I'm the funniest in the lab :)
Chanelle Moise
BS Biomedical Engineering
Project: Circadian rhythm in wound healing/ tissue repair
Fun Fact: My favorite sport is badminton, and I have 2 chinchillas <3
Kelly Zhang
BA Engineering
Project: Impact of circadian rhythm in tissue engineering
Fun Fact: I love animals! I have one cat (Karkar) here in New England and 10 cats as well as 3 dogs at home in Guangzhou, China.
Undergraduate students
Aoife Ruth
2026
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Fun Fact: I love being active: soccer, tennis, skiing, polo. My random talents include winning every card game, speaking french, and knowing world capitals.
Naaz Thotathil
2024
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Fun Fact: I love painting and drawing, going on hikes and cooking. I have also moved a lot and lived in 3 different continents.
Haylee Wagner
2024
Major: BIomedical Engineering
Fun Fact: I love art, interior decorating, and doing my own gel nails at home. I am also the Vice President of the Biomedical Engineering Society.
Sophia Millan
2024
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Fun Fact: I love reading, skiing, biking, I'm bilingual, and if I could live in the Hamilton world I would!
Bridget Twombly
2024
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Fun Fact: I love being active and spending time outside. I play on the club field hockey team at UMass and enjoy hiking in my free time.
Lab alumni
Graduate Students
RCSI
Francesco Santarella, Ph.D.
Emily Ryan, Ph.D.
Catherine Sirafim, Ph.D.
Sean McGrath
Badriah Ali
Fionnuala O'Gorman
Darina Gilroy
Seán Kelley
Postdoctoral Fellows
RCSI
Tauseef Ahmed
Rukmani Sridharan
Milica Marinkovic
Ronaldo do Amaral
Undergraduate sTudents
UMass Amherst
Loria DiMartino
Julia Burke
Ishmael Adibuah
Emily Berestesky
Esha Uddin
Iris Schellenberg
Kaleb Seifert
Alexander Gottlieb
RCSI
Shifaa Turkistani
Renuka Chintapalli
Shin Loong Song
Renuka Sitram
Syama Gollapalli
Harumi Ramanayake
Jack Donohue
Guiqin Wang
WaiYi Feng
Heng Min Lim
Eileen Whittle
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