Profile

Photo:

Brian Caffrey

My CV

  • Education:

    University College Dublin 2010-2015

  • Qualifications:

    B.Sc. (Hons) in Chemistry

  • Work History:

    I’ve worked in industry for 1 year and in a couple of summer internships in UCD.

  • Current Job:

    I’m a PhD student.

  • About Me

    I like to play around with things and see how they work.

  • Read more

    I live with my wife in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. We have no pets as of yet but I want a big lizard called a bearded dragon but my wife won’t let me! 🙁

    I’m from Cavan originally but moved to Dublin when I finished my leaving cert to study in UCD.

    I play rugby (although I’m not very good :P) and I like watch the marvel movies (cus I like explosions)!

  • Read more

    Everyday we eat and breathe in tiny particles called nanoparticles. If you can imagine a nanoparticle is a million times smaller than a millimeter.

    To put that size into perspective a nanoparticle is to an ant what an ant is to the earth!

    So really small! Because nanoparticles are so small your body can’t see them so they bypass your immune system and can enter cells, we’re trying to create special nanoparticles which only go into certain types of cells, mainly cancer cells. If we can do that then we can hopefully kill cancer cells and leave the healthy ones around it perfectly ok.

  • My Typical Day

    I take pictures of cells using a special microscope called an electron microscope.

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    I grow bacteria which are infected with viruses and use those viruses to find nanoparticles  which are biologically useful for targeting cancer.

    I also take pictures of cells and nanoparticles under special microscopes called electron microscopes that can see really small things, you can almost see atoms with them.

  • What I'd do with the prize money

    I’d use it to create an application to teach a chemistry class here in a local college for medical students and the general public.

  • My Interview

    • How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

      Curious, interested and

      What did you want to be after you left school?

      A professor

      Were you ever in trouble at school?

      Yep, lots…

      Who is your favourite singer or band?

      **taylor swift** ahem I mean AC/DC right!

      What's your favourite food?

      Not broccoli, I HATE broccoli. I’ll eat anything else!

      Tell us a joke.

      Why doesn’t the grizzly bear dissolve in water? Because it’s not a polar bear! :D

  • Work photos:

    The first image there is a picture of a set of bacterial cultures which are infected with viruses. We make sure that the we only select the right bacteria by adding antibiotics to the liquid, the viruses make the bacteria antibiotic resistant and therefore only the bacteria with the viruses survives.

Questions answered by Brian

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