Colette McDonagh

Prof. Colette McDonagh is a Full Professor at the School of Physical Sciences, Dublin City University (DCU), where she leads the Optical Sensors Laboratory (OSL). She is also affiliated with the National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR) and the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (BDI). Her research focuses on optical sensor technologies, particularly sol-gel materials for environmental and biomedical applications, plasmonic enhancement strategies, and nanoparticle-based bioassays. Funding sources include industry, EU grants, and national agencies.

Dr. McDonagh holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Trinity College Dublin and has contributed over 120 publications with 3,500+ citations. Her work spans sensor development for dissolved CO₂ monitoring, bioprocess tracking, and in vivo diagnostics. She pioneered innovations in fluorophore-doped silica nanoparticles and surface plasmon-enhanced fluorescence for high-sensitivity detection.

Her labs emphasize interdisciplinary collaboration, integrating photonics, material science, and biomedical engineering. Recent projects include microfluidic automation, ultra-bright nanoparticle labels for cancer imaging, and plasmonic biochip platforms for point-of-care diagnostics.