About
Dr
David Kinahan
Funded Investigator
Dr David Kinahan is an Assistant Professor in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Dublin City University (DCU). David holds a BEng in Aeronautical Engineering and a PhD from University of Limerick (UL). After his studies David joined Stokes Bio Ltd, a spin-out from UL, as a Senior Engineer, and was later promoted to Engineering Manager leading a team of 10 engineers. In January 2012 David joined the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute in DCU and since then has applied microfluidics and Lab-on-a-Chip technologies to a wide range of application areas such as human health and environmental monitoring. David was later a Group Leader within the Fraunhofer Project Centre at Dublin City University (FPC@DCU). Here the focus of his research was microfabrication and design of microfluidic devices for mass manufacture. Since joining the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering in 2018 David has secured €1.4m in research funding.
Research Interests (Lay Summary)
Dr Kinahan’s research focus is split between microfabrication and Lab-on-a-Chip applications. In microfabrication he is interested in laser machining and nano-texturing of surfaces. This has applications in reducing biofouling of membranes and ship’s hulls, reducing cavitation in pumps, and can have antimicrobial and antiviral effects. This research area can reduce the cost of a diverse range of applications including water treatment. David is also interested in applying micro-fabrication strategies, including micron-scale 3D printing, to applications in Lab-on-a-Chip. This is miniaturising diagnostic tests to make them cheaper, faster, more reliable, and less laborious for users. David has a particularly strong background in centrifugal microfluidics and has applied this to applications in human health (HIV diagnostics, CTC detection, CVD diagnostics, liver disease, early detection of bacterial meningitis) and point-of-use testing (plant pathogen detection, environmental monitoring etc).