Dr Dan Nickstrom

    Experimental Physics

    Course Coordinator for Certificate in Science

    Science Building
    (01) 7083552

    Biography

    Dan graduated with a degree in applied physics from Dublin City University in 2011. He then completed a PhD in biomedical physics and magnetic detection of diseases in blood at the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute and Department of Physical Sciences, Dublin City University in January 2016.

    A large part of his PhD research* involved designing and building microfluidic medical devices in a cleanroom environment using photolithography. He also spent time during his undergraduate degree working in the Californian Nanosystems Institute at The University of California, Santa Barbara, again working in cleanroom facilities creating biomedical devices from semiconductor materials.

    Along with these areas of interest he has always been a keen communicator of science and received several awards in that area. He has also worked in various areas of physics education across several universities since completing his PhD. At the moment he is carrying out work at the intersection of physics and art. This includes building interactive installations that educate, entertain and inspire future scientists and particularly future physicists.

    He began working in the Experimental Physics Depart at Maynooth in 2017 and officially joined the faculty in September 2018. He is currently course coordinator for the Certificate in Science and is also a member of the newly formed Maynooth Institute for Human Health.

    Currently Engaged in SFI science outreach grant to build an interactive and immersive physics education experience: http://www.iopireland.org/news/18/dec/page_72515.html 

    *All research carried out prior to 2016 was published as "Daniel Kirby".

    Research Interests

    Biomedical Physics, Circulating Tumour Cells, Microfluidics, Magnetism, Photolithography, Science Outreach, Physics/Art crossovers, Scientific Art Installations.

    Peer Reviewed Journals

      Year Publication
    2015 'Rapid and Cost-Efficient Enumeration of Rare Cancer Cells from Whole Blood by Low-Loss Centrifugo-Magnetophoretic Purification Under Stopped-Flow Conditions'
    Kirby, D;Glynn, M;Kijanka, G;Ducree, J (2015) 'Rapid and Cost-Efficient Enumeration of Rare Cancer Cells from Whole Blood by Low-Loss Centrifugo-Magnetophoretic Purification Under Stopped-Flow Conditions'. Cytometry Part A, 87A :74-80 [DOI] [Details]
    2014 'Centrifugo-Magnetophoretic Purification of CD4+Cells from Whole Blood Toward Future HIV/AIDS Point-of-Care Applications'
    Glynn, M;Kirby, D;Chung, D;Kinahan, DJ;Kijanka, G;Ducree, J (2014) 'Centrifugo-Magnetophoretic Purification of CD4+Cells from Whole Blood Toward Future HIV/AIDS Point-of-Care Applications'. Jala, 19 :285-296 [DOI] [Details]
    2012 'Centrifugal microfluidics for cell analysis'
    Burger R;Kirby D;Glynn M;Nwankire C;O'Sullivan M;Siegrist J;Kinahan D;Aguirre G;Kijanka G;Gorkin RA;Ducrée J; (2012) 'Centrifugal microfluidics for cell analysis'. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 16 (3-4) [DOI] [Details]
    2012 'Centrifugo-magnetophoretic particle separation'
    Kirby, Daniel and Siegrist, Jonathan and Kijanka, Gregor and Zavattoni, La\ (2012) 'Centrifugo-magnetophoretic particle separation'. Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, 13 (6):899-908 [DOI] [Details]

    Conference Publications

      Year Publication
    2014 Electromagnetic Trapping of Cancer Cells on an Array of Thin-Film Permalloy Microfeatures for Single Cell Analysis
    Kirby, Daniel & Bailey, Eanna & Glynn, Macdara & Nwankire, Charles & Ducrée, Jens. (2014) Electromagnetic Trapping of Cancer Cells on an Array of Thin-Film Permalloy Microfeatures for Single Cell Analysis MicroTAS, At San Antonio Texas, Volume: The 18th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences [Details]
    2014 Continuous, stopped-flow separation for integrated blood cell enrichment and analysis on centrifugal microfluidic platforms
    Kirby, Daniel & O'Connell, Claire & Ducree, Jens (2014) Continuous, stopped-flow separation for integrated blood cell enrichment and analysis on centrifugal microfluidic platforms µFlu 2014, 4th European Conference on Microfluidics, Proceedings, Limerick, IE, Dec 10-12, 2014 [Details]
    2014 Staging the clinical status from blood of cacer patients by chip-based emumeration following removal of normal cells
    Glynn, Macdara & Kirby, Daniel & Nwankire, Charles & Kinahan, David & Spillane, Cathy & Sheils, Orla & O ' Leary, John & Ducrée, Jens. (2014) Staging the clinical status from blood of cacer patients by chip-based emumeration following removal of normal cells 18th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences, MicroTAS 2014 [Details]
    2012 Immunomagnetic purification of cancer cells from whole blood on a centrifugal-microfluidic platform
    Kirby, Daniel & Kijanka, Gregor & Siegrist, Jonathan & Burger, Robert & Ducrée, Jens (2012) Immunomagnetic purification of cancer cells from whole blood on a centrifugal-microfluidic platform Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (microTAS 2012) [Details]

    Teaching Interests

    Dan has taught across many fields of Physics and at various different levels and institutions. At the moment his main teaching focus is on Semiconductors, Lasers, Electromagnetism and Biomedical Physics.

    He is currently the course coordinator for the Certificate in Science at Maynooth University and has also supervised practical labs extensively and taught the physics stream of Trinity Walton Club, a STEM camp for school children based in Trinity College Dublin for 2 years.

    He is currently engaged in an SFI funded Science/Art project to bring Physics to teenagers in an interactive and innovative way through interactive art installations.