Current Programme Participants
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Thomas Duignan
Thomas is a highly driven individual with a passion for designing and delivering solutions for underserved clinical areas. Having been raised on the family farm, Thomas developed a resilient work ethic and deep appreciation for teamwork and community. After graduating from University of Galway with a first-class honours degree in Biomedical Engineering, Thomas spent five years working in the Cardiac Surgery department at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital.
Here he designed, developed and patented a novel device that can isolate mitochondria from cell tissue in 15 minutes, transforming the potential of mitochondrial transplantation into a highly scalable therapeutic modality. To underscore his technical ability, Thomas built an ex-vivo heart perfusion machine that sustained explanted porcine hearts for over 4 hours - using only discarded medical equipment. The totality of this work earned him numerous publications, including a publication with Nobel Prize Winner, William G. Kaelin, and recognition back home where he was named as one of “The Innovators: The Irish names and businesses shaking up the global status quo” in Tatler Magazine and the Sunday Business Post. Thomas later returned to Ireland via the National College of Art and Design to earn a master’s degree in Medical Device Design. Armed with a human centred design skill set and an immersive experience in clinical procedures, he joined the trailblazing MedTech start-up, FIRE1, to bring a human focus to their product portfolio (wearable, mobile app, clinic web portal, and sensor & delivery system). Most recently, Thomas has been running a clinical study at the National Maternity Hospital, for a research team at University College Dublin, to assess the performance of a wearable technology to monitor foetal health during the last trimester of pregnancy. Thomas enjoys all things outdoors, meeting new people and the company of family and friends. He is looking forward to bringing his professional and life experiences to his team at BioInnovate to identify underserved clinical areas.
