Maria Davoren
Colm O’Dowd
Sharon Ní Shúilleabháin

Dr Maria Davoren is post-doctoral researcher at the RESC. She is currently working on the BIOMASSTOX project, developing a rapid, sensitive and economical battery of tests to investigate the ecotoxic and cytotoxic potential of Irish estuarine sediments. Following the completion of her degree in Toxicology from Athlone Institute of Technology in 1994, she gained extensive experience working as a quality-control scientist for a leading veterinary vaccine manufacturer in Ireland. She returned to Athlone in 1997 to pursue an M.Sc. in Environmental Toxicology under the supervision of Dr Andy Fogarty. Maria received a Walsh Fellowship from Teagasc in 1999 to pursue her studies to Ph.D. level investigating the ecotoxicological effects and biodegradation of the agri-chemical Environ, a chemical used extensively in the mushroom industry in Ireland. Maria was awarded an Arnold Graves Scholarship for Postdoctoral Research in April 2002, and has since assumed responsibility for ecotoxicological research at the centre.

Sharon Ní Shúilleabháin is a postgraduate researcher at the RESC. She is currently working on the BIOMASSTOX project using in vitro techniques to identify and quantify the potential toxicity of Irish estuarine sediments. She graduated with a B.A.(Moderatorship) in Environmental Sciences in 1999 from Trinity College, Dublin following the completion of a thesis on the condition of Dreissena polymorpha in the Shannon Estuary. While conducting her studies there she received the Ford Foundation Prize for Environmental Science, 1998, and the Du Quesne Prize for Environmental Science in 1999. Prior to commencement of studies towards her Ph.D. in September 2000, she worked as a research assistant in the Marine Institute.

Colm O’ Dowd is a post-graduate researcher at the RESC since January 2003. He is currently involved with the VITOX project, dealing with the development of in vitro enabling technologies for use in environmental toxicology. After completing a Diploma in Aquatic Science from the Galway Institute of Technology, Colm transferred to Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, where he graduated in 1996 with a honours degree in Applied Marine Biology Research. He subsequently gained a position as a research associate under the direction Professor Brian Austin at Heriot-Watt to investigate the growth, efficacy and longevity of a lactic acid bacteria for use as a putative probiotic in fish food. In 1998 Colm was awarded a Monbusho Scholarship (from the Japanese Department of Education) in the laboratory of the Department of Marine Biotechnology at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology under the guidance of Professor Tadashi Matsunaga. The research centered on the isolation of growth factors from large libraries of microalgae which were collected from hydrothermal vents in the Asian Pacific and from the islands of Micronesia.