Deirdre Kilbane

Deirdre is Head of Division of the Emerging Networks Laboratory in Walton Institute, Waterford Institute of Technology. She leads the EU Horizon2020 FETOpen PRIME project that aims to establish a transformational diagnostic-therapeutic treatment for epilepsy and other neurological disorders. Researchers in PRIME are developing a software tool for designing engineered cells that compute, diagnose, and produce therapeutic molecules capable of preventing seizures. The design tool is governed by artificial intelligence (AI) and bioinformatics integrated with molecular communication (MC) simulations that use biophysical and statistical mechanics modelling.

Deirdre's research combines nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and quantum communication to develop innovative technologies for the agriculture, healthcare, and ICT sectors. She received a BSc in Experimental Physics along with a PGD in Education from University College Dublin (UCD) and a PhD in Mathematical Physics from the National University of Ireland Maynooth. Prior to joining Walton Institute, Deirdre led the Ultrafast Nanoplasmonics Group in the Aeschlimann Laboratories in the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. She has published at the highest level in Science, Nano Letters and Physical Review X and is an Adjunct Lecturer/Assistant Professor in the School of Physics, UCD.