BRIAN BARRETT BEng MIEI
PhD Research Postgraduate (2004-2007)

e: brian.barrett@ul.ie

t: +353-61-213103

Brian Barrett graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Limerick in 2004. Brian has completed past industrial experience with Leo Pharmaceuticals in Cork, where he has worked in the Engineering and Technology Department. In 2004 he was awarded an IRCSET Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship. His primary research interests include heat transfer and fluid flow in multiphase microfluidics with application to PCR devices.

PhD Project Title: A Surface Heated Serpentine Polymerase Chain Reactor for the Genetic Diagnosis of Childhood Leukaemia

The focus of the work being carried out on this project with the Stokes Research Institute is based the development of a device that is to be capable of early and accurate detection of cancers, in the first instance the genetic diagnosis of childhood leukaemia. It is using a technique known as the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) that such a system can be developed. PCR is a process that selects a DNA segment from a mixture of DNA chains and rapidly replicates through the means of a thermal cycle. Most commercially available thermal cyclers carry out PCR in a batch process using disposable wells to prevent cross-contamination between samples. However, these assays are multi-step, manual, expensive and relatively slow. Hence there is an ever-increasing need for cheap miniaturised continuous type flow devices in which all functional elements of the genetic analysis could be integrated onto one single miniaturised device.