University College Cork

1. Home
2. Student Health Service
3. People

‍

Biography

Karen is a staff research scientist at TNI since 2007. She has a PhD in microelectronics and a degree in electrical engineering. She joined TNI as a postdoctoral researcher in 2002 to develop an electronic tongue sensor system to monitor milk freshness. She has successfully participated in both national and international projects on biosensor development for bioterrorism agent monitoring, nanopore technology for DNA analysis and minimally invasive systems for early disease detection. Her research interests include micro- and nano-sensor design and development, electrochemical sensor characterization, simulation and development of data analysis methods for complex solutions for environmental, medical, and security applications.

‍

Research Interests

electrochemical sensors, nanopores, biosensors.

Research Grants

	Project	Funding Body	Start Date	End Date	Award
	Artificial gut trials with sensor system	Enterprise Ireland
	Label-free detection of Listeria monocytogenes using electrochemical sensor incorporating specific surface biofunctionalization methods	Science Foundation Ireland
	Non-invasive approach to diagnose intestinal diseases	Enterprise Irl	01-JAN-09	31-DEC-10	€99,725.00
	EI "Development of a Diagnostic Swallowable Capsule to Investigate the GI Tract Environment .."	Enterprise Irl	01-OCT-05	31-JUL-09	€341,563.00
	DAFF "14/F/883" - Development of SPORE ANALYSIS CRITICAL CONTROL POINT (SACCP) charts for application in dairy manufacturing process	Department of Agriculture Fisheries & Forestry (DAFF)	01-DEC-14	30-NOV-18	€271,849.00
	EI FP/2010/602 Travel Support	Enterprise Irl	14-FEB-10	28-FEB-15	€1,200.00
	Design of an on-chip potentiostat	Science Foundation Ireland
	Development of SPORE ANALYSIS CRITICAL CONTROL POINT (SACCP) charts	Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food (DAFF)	01-DEC-14
	EI - Travel Support	Enterprise Irl	23-JUN-09	03-NOV-09	€800.00
	Label-free detection of colorectal cancer biomarkers using a nanostructured device which applies electrochemical methods to investigate the biomarker ion transfer behaviour	Science Foundation Ireland

‍

Publications

‍

Book Chapters

	Year	Publication
	(2014)	'Development of an Electrochemical Sensing System for Environmental Monitoring of Port Water Quality to Integrate On-board an Autonomous Robotic Fish' V.I. Ogurtsov, K.Twomey,G.Herzog (2014) 'Development of an Electrochemical Sensing System for Environmental Monitoring of Port Water Quality to Integrate On-board an Autonomous Robotic Fish' In: Comprehensive Materials Processing Technology. n/a: Elsevier Science. [Details]

‍

Peer Reviewed Journals

	Year	Publication
	(2009)	'Swallowable capsule technology: current perspectives and future directions' Twomey K, Marchesi JR (2009) 'Swallowable capsule technology: current perspectives and future directions'. Endoscopy, 41 (4):357-362 [DOI] [Details]
	(2013)	'On-chip electrochemical microsystems for measurements of copper and conductivity in artificial seawater' Herzog, G,Moujahid, W,Twomey, K,Lyons, C,Ogurtsov, VI (2013) 'On-chip electrochemical microsystems for measurements of copper and conductivity in artificial seawater'. Talanta, 116 :26-32 [DOI] [Details]
	(2008)	'Swallowable-capsule technology' C. Mc Caffrey; O.Chevalerias; C.O'Mathuna; K.Twomey (2008) 'Swallowable-capsule technology'. IEEE Pervasive Computing, [Details]
	(2006)	'A portable sensing system for electronic tongue operations' Twomey, K,Truemper, A,Murphy, K; (2006) 'A portable sensing system for electronic tongue operations'. Sensors, 6 :1679-1696 [Details]
	(2009)	'Fabrication and characterization of a miniaturized planar voltammetric sensor array for use in an electronic tongue' Twomey, K,de Eulate, EA,Alderman, J,Arrigan, DWM; (2009) 'Fabrication and characterization of a miniaturized planar voltammetric sensor array for use in an electronic tongue'. Sensors and Actuators B-Chemical, 140 :532-541 [DOI] [Details]
	(2011)	'Characterization of the Electrochemical Behavior of Gastrointestinal Fluids Using a Multielectrode Sensor Probe' Twomey, K,de Eulate, EA,Marchesi, JR,Kolida, S,Gibson, G,Arrigan, DWM,Ogurtsov, VI; (2011) 'Characterization of the Electrochemical Behavior of Gastrointestinal Fluids Using a Multielectrode Sensor Probe'. IEEE Transactions On Biomedical Engineering, 58 :2521-2527 [DOI] [Details]

‍

Teaching Activities

‍

Teaching Interests

                         

coordinates the BioMEMS lectures in the Microsystems course (UE6008). lectures in Microsystems CM6014 as part of the MSc in Analytical Chemistry.

Microsystems, analytical chemistry, Nanotechnology, electrochemical sensors

‍

Recent Postgraduates

	Graduation Year	Student Name	Institution	Degree Type	Thesis Title
	2010	Eva Alvarez	NUI (UCC)	MSc	Investigation of an electronic tongue array for gastro-intestinal disease detection’
	2012	Aoife Ryan	NUI (UCC)	MSc	Development of an Electroanalytical Methodology for the Detection of Contaminants (Phenol) in Seawater
	2013	Shane McGilllycuddy	NUI (UCC)	MSc	A hybrid solid-state nanopore array for label-free DNA and Toxin detection.
	2015	Suzanne O'Callaghan	UCD	MEngSc	Use of dental implants for monitoring oral health and inflammation
	2014	Sarah Harney	NUI (UCC)	MSc	LABEL-FREE DETECTION OF COLORECTAL CANCER BIOMARKERS USING A NANOSTRUCTURED DEVICE WHICH APPLIES ELECTROCHEMICAL METHODS TO INVESTIGATE THE BIOMARKER ION TRANSFER BEHAVIOUR
	2008	Colm McCaffrey	NUI (UCC)	MEngSc	DEVELOPMENT OF CIRCUITRY AND
	2010	Rakesh Kumar	NUI (UCC)	MSc	Electrochemical Characterization of a disposable three

‍

Research Information

‍

Internal Collaborators

	Name	Institute	Country
	Jadavpur University		INDIA

‍

External Collaborators

	Name	Organisation/ Institution	Country
	School of Dentistry	UCC	IRELAND
	Moorepark, Teagasc		IRELAND
	Queens University		UNITED KINGDOM
	Haute Ecole Arc Ingénierie		SWITZERLAND
	Imperial College London		UNITED KINGDOM
	Trinity Academic Gastroenterology Group		IRELAND
	Tallaght Hospital