An IT Carlow postgraduate research student has won a prestigious international science competition and will shortly be US-bound to compete in a grand final and the chance of a once-in-a-lifetime postdoctoral position with the global biotechnology company, Alltech.
Richard Lally, a postgraduate student at IT Carlow’s enviroCORE research hub, beat hundreds of other postgraduate students to become Regional Winner for Europe/Africa in the graduate category of Alltech’s Young Scientist Competition 2016.
Richard, who is from Prosperous Co. Kildare, receives a 2,000 USD prize and an all-expenses paid trip to Lexington, Kentucky in May where he will compete in the next stage of the competition as part of ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference, which takes place from 22nd-25th May. There, Richard will compete in the final for an overall winner’s prize of 10,000 USD and a two-year, fully-funded postdoctoral position with Alltech.
"I was thrilled to receive the news that we had won the regional stage of this competition. I'm so proud that our work was selected over every other entry from the Europe/Africa category, a remarkable achievement for our research group. Currently, I'm preparing for the global stage of the event, I'm very much looking forward to taking part, representing IT Carlow and presenting the important work we do here in enviroCORE”, commented Richard Lally.
The postgrad’s winning entry Plant growth promoting Pseudomonads, their colonisation dynamics and agricultural potential, is based on research he carried out under the supervision of IT Carlow academic research staff Drs. David Ryan, David Dowling, Kieran Germaine, Andrew Lloyd and Thomaé Kakouli-Duarte. It investigates three potential plant growth promoting Pseudomonas fluorescens strains (L321, L111 and L228) for the application in Brassica napus, an important food and biofuel crop and the research was carried out in conjunction with Teagasc crop research centre at Oak Park in Carlow. The results show that the three strains contained important genes used in the role of plant growth promotion that could be important for use in agriculture.
Richard’s supervisor, Dr. David Ryan, commented, “Alltech is a global leader in crop science, animal nutrition and health and so this recognition is both a wonderful achievement for Richard and enviroCORE and an acknowledgment of the world class research being carried out at IT Carlow”.
-ENDS-
For further information, Alma Feeley, IT Carlow.
E: alma.feeley@itcarlow.ie M: 087 8204934
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IT Carlow Postgraduate Researcher Wins Top International Science Award
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