Dr. Mark Ahearne

Mark received a BEng. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Limerick in 2001, a MSc. in Cell and Tissue Engineering from Keele University (United Kingdom) in 2003 and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Keele University in 2007. His PhD research focused on the development of a novel spherical indentation system to characterise the mechanical behaviour of cell seeded hydrogels. He subsequently worked as a post-doctoral research associate for three years at Keele University where he developed an in vitro corneal wound healing model for pharmaceutical screening, in addition to working on other projects. Mark joined the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering (TCBE) as a post-doctoral research fellow in October 2010 to primarily work on developing a growth factor delivery scaffold for articular cartilage repair. In 2012 he commenced work as a research fellow and principle investigator in TCBE in the field of corneal tissue engineering and cornea repair after obtaining an Starting Investigator Research Grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Marie-Curie COFUND. In 2015 he was award an ERC starting grant to conduct research on developing artificial cornea. In 2016 he was appointed to the position of assistant professor in biomedical engineering.

  Biomaterials   CARTILAGE   EYE   HYDROGELS   NANOFIBERS   Ophthalmology   Stem cells   Tissue Engineering

My research has focused on generating novel therapies to treat blindness by using tissue engineering, advanced biomaterials, mechanobiology and cell-based technologies. My approach involves first understanding how ocular cells respond to differing environments and then using this information to develop novel therapeutic strategies. Specific examples of my research include: - Developing decellularized corneal scaffolds and hydrogels for corneal regeneration. I led the first research team to develop a decellularized corneal matrix hydrogel to replace damaged cornea, a technique that is now used by many other researchers. The hydrogels do not require sutures for implantation, integrate well with the native tissue and allow light to pass through to enable vision. - Investigating the influence that different physical factors, such as stiffness, matrix viscoelasticity, topography and shear stress, have on corneal and trabecular meshwork cells with the aim of determining how these factors can be used to control cell behaviour and design better implants. I have also examined how specific signalling pathways within cells are affected by these factors. - Isolation and differentiation of human adipose-derived stem cells into corneal cells for corneal regeneration. The lack of donor corneal tissue for transplantation has led me to investigate using these cells as an alternative cell source for generating corneal tissue. - Manufacturing novel nanofiber constructs for tissue repair using a variety of different biomaterials. I have been able to fabricate constructs that mimic the complex microstructure of real tissues. - Designing organ-on-a-chip technology to model fluid flow in the eye. My team have developed a trabecular meshwork model that could be used to test novel glaucoma pharmaceutics as an alternative to animal testing. We have also developed a corneal model to identify how fluid flow affects specific cell processes in the eye and used this information to target those processes for the development of new drugs and therapies. In addition to conducting ocular research, I have experience in other areas of biomedical engineering. These include the development of a growth factor delivery hydrogel for cartilage regeneration, production and characterization of biodegradable composite bone implants, characterizing tenocyte (tendon cells) behaviour in a cyclical strain bioreactor system and examining the mechanical and viscoelastic characteristics of tissues and cell seeded hydrogels.