Biography

Dr. Sinéad O'Keeffe is a Royal Society – Science Foundation Ireland University Research Fellow at the OFSRC. She graduated with BE (hons) in Electronic Engineering from the University of Limerick in 2003 and received her PhD in 2006 from the same institute, for the development of polymer optical fibre sensors for the sterilization industry. On completion of her PhD, she worked as a Marie Curie Research Fellow in the General Engineering Research Institute at Liverpool John Moores University, developing optical fibre sensors for monitoring UV and Ozone. She returned to the Optical Fibre Sensors Research Centre at the University of Limerick in 2008 and was awarded an FP7 Marie Curie Research Fellowship developing radiation dosimeters for monitoring patient doses received during radiotherapy for cancer treatment. She was Chair of the highly successful and recently completed COST Action TD1001 aimed at developing fibre optic sensor systems for reliable use in safety and security relevant applications in society. She is Member-at-Large of the IEEE Sensors Council for 2017-2020 and Chair of the IEEE Sensors Council Women in Sensors Committee 2019-2020.

Research Interests

Project: Advancing Photonics for RadiotherapyFunded by The Royal Society – Science Foundation Ireland University Research FellowshipThis project addresses the challenges of delivering effective and optimal radiation treatment for oncology, with specific focus on Low Dose Rate Brachytherapy for treating prostate cancer. It focuses on the need for personalised real-time radiation monitoring during advanced cancer treatments by proposing advances in photonics technology applicable to radiotherapy. It focuses on the development of highly innovative optical fibre based technology to create in-vivo devices for the diagnosis, assessment and radiotherapy treatment of prostate cancer tumours. Specialist micro-machining techniques, based on femto-second laser and ultra-precision diamond tooling, will allow for miniaturised sensor tips to be incorporated at the end of an optical fibre. The small geometries of optical fibres, coupled with the novel and innovative use of micro-machining technologies, facilitates in-vivo placement of the sensors at the tumour site or nearby critical structures requiring monitoring. Furthermore the development of a fully integrated sensor system, in close consultation with leading clinicians and radiotherapy physicists, will ensure the sensors can be incorporated within current clinical environments in a minimally invasive means. The measurement of oxygen concentration, coupled with the in-vivo radiation dose measurement, constitutes a powerful combination of leading-edge optical fibre based measurement techniques, providing potential solutions to as yet unresolved problems (reliable and repeatable measurements during the treatment of hypoxic tumours). This opens up the possibility of adapting the radiation dose delivered during the course of the radiotherapy treatment, with a consecutive impact on improving patient outcomes.

Project: Optical Fibre Dose Imaging for Adaptive Brachytherapy [EU H2020 - ICT-05-2019 - Application driven photonics components]ORIGIN aims to deliver more effective, photonics-enabled, brachytherapy for cancer treatment through advanced real-time radiation dose imaging and source localisation. This will be achieved by the development of a new optical fibre based sensor system to support diagnostics-driven therapy through enhanced adaptive brachytherapy. A 16-point optical fibre sensors system will be developed, for Low Dose Rate (LDR) and High Dose Rate (HDR) Brachytherapy, with sensitivity of 150 counts/Gy for LDR- and 2500 counts/mGy for HDR- BT alongside a dedicated data acquisition system providing a dose mapping system with a spatial resolution of 0.5mm (HDR) and 3mm (LDR) and time resolution of 0.1s (HDR) and 0.5s (LDR), with 5% uncertainty. This is a 50% improvement in uncertainty over existing systems. Further interrogation of the optical signal will provide real-time monitoring of the radiation source location during treatment. The ORIGIN system will be integrated into existing clinical brachytherapy treatment planning and delivery systems to confirm that the dose prescribed to the tumour is achieved, whilst ensuring the dose to organs at risk (OARs) is within acceptable limits. This will provide for optimised dose-led, patient-oriented, personalised treatment plans leading to improved patient outcomes and prevention of treatment errors, with the potential to reduce the overall risk of treatment error by 55%. The optical fibre radiation dosimeters will be further optimised for improved optical signal collection efficiency, higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and repeatable high volume fabrication. Taking manufacturability into consideration from the outset will ensure that ORIGIN establishes Europe at the fore of brachytherapy system development and photonics manufacturing.

Peer Reviewed Journals

Books

This author has not written any publications of this type yet.

Book Chapters

Edited Books

This author has not written any publications of this type yet.

Other Journals

Conference Publications

2014

OPTICAL SENSING AND DETECTION III

Lewis, E,O'Keeffe, S,Grattan, M,Hounsell, A,McCarthy, D,Woulfe, P,Cronin, J,Mihai, L,Sporea, D,Santhanam, A,Agazaryan, N,Berghmans, F,Mignani, AG,DeMoor, P (2014) OPTICAL SENSING AND DETECTION III. Optical Coherence Tomography And Coherence Techniques V

2013

Sensors, 2013 IEEE

Woulfe, P and O'Keeffe, S and McCarthy, D and Grattan, M and Hounsell, A and Cronin, J and Lewis, E (2013) Sensors, 2013 IEEE. :1-4

2013

FIFTH EUROPEAN WORKSHOP ON OPTICAL FIBRE SENSORS

O'Keeffe, S,Grattan, M,Hounsell, A,McCarthy, D,Woulfe, P,Cronin, J,Lewis, E,Jaroszewicz, LR (2013) FIFTH EUROPEAN WORKSHOP ON OPTICAL FIBRE SENSORS. Optical Coherence Tomography And Coherence Techniques V

2013

SENSORS & THEIR APPLICATIONS XVII

Zawawi, MA,O'Keeffe, S,Lewis, E,Bilas V,McConnell, G,Kyriacou, P (2013) SENSORS & THEIR APPLICATIONS XVII. Eurotherm Seminar 102: Thermal Management Of Electronic Systems

2012

2012 IEEE SENSORS PROCEEDINGS

Zacharias, S,Newe, T,O'Keeffe, S,Lewis, E, (2012) 2012 IEEE SENSORS PROCEEDINGS. 2012 Ieee Sensors Proceedings :1842-1845

2012

Sensors, 2012 IEEE

Zacharias, Sven and Newe, Thomas and O'Keeffe, Sinead and Lewis, Elfed (2012) Sensors, 2012 IEEE. :1-4

2012

2012 IEEE SENSORS PROCEEDINGS

McCarthy, D,O'Keeffe, S,Lewis, E,Sporea, D,Sporea, A,Tiseanu, I,Woulfe, P,Cronin, J, (2012) 2012 IEEE SENSORS PROCEEDINGS. 2012 Ieee Sensors Proceedings :858-861

2011

2011 IEEE SENSORS

O'Connell, E,O'Keeffe, S,Newe, T,Lewis, E, (2011) 2011 IEEE SENSORS. 2011 Ieee Sensors :1558-1561

2011

Sensors, 2011 IEEE

Dooly, G and Manap, H and O'Keeffe, S and Lewis, E (2011) Sensors, 2011 IEEE. :242-245

2011

Sensors, 2011 IEEE

McCarthy, Denis and O'Keeffe, Sinead and Lewis, Elfed and Sporea, Dan and Sporea, Adelina and Tiseanu, Ion (2011) Sensors, 2011 IEEE. :121-124

2011

Sensors, 2011 IEEE

O'Connell, E and O'Keeffe, S and Newe, T and Lewis, E (2011) Sensors, 2011 IEEE. :1558-1561

2011

IEEE Sensors 2011 Conference.

McCarthy, D., O'Keeffe,S., Lewis,E., Sporea, D., Sporea,A., Tiseanu,I. (2011) IEEE Sensors 2011 Conference. . :121-124

2011

EUROSENSORS XXV

Dooly, G,Manap, H,O'Keeffe, S,Lewis, E,Kaltsas, G,Tsamis, C (2011) EUROSENSORS XXV. Engineering Of Sport 8: Engineering Emotion - 8th Conference Of The International Sports Engineering Association (Isea)

2011

IEEE Sensors 2011

O'Connell E., O'Keeffe S., Newe T., Lewis E. (2011) IEEE Sensors 2011. :1558-1561

2011

2011 IEEE SENSORS

McCarthy, D,O'Keeffe, S,Lewis, E,Sporea, D,Sporea, A,Tiseanu, I, (2011) 2011 IEEE SENSORS. 2011 Ieee Sensors :121-124

2011

SENSORS & THEIR APPLICATIONS XVI

Dooly, G,Manap, H,O'Keeffe, S,Lewis, E,Kyriacou, PA,O'Riordan, A,McConnell, G (2011) SENSORS & THEIR APPLICATIONS XVI. Eurotherm Seminar 102: Thermal Management Of Electronic Systems

2011

2011 IEEE SENSORS

Dooly, G,Manap, H,O'Keeffe, S,Lewis, E, (2011) 2011 IEEE SENSORS. 2011 Ieee Sensors :242-245

2010

Sensors, 2010 IEEE

O'Keeffe, S and Manap, H and Dooly, G and Lewis, E (2010) Sensors, 2010 IEEE. :1140-1143

2010

Sensors, 2010 IEEE

McCarthy, D and O'Keeffe, S and Leen, G and Lewis, E (2010) Sensors, 2010 IEEE. :1663-1666

2009

Proceedings of IEEE Sensors

O'Keeffe S., Lewis E., Santhanam A., Winningham A., Rolland J.P. (2009) Proceedings of IEEE Sensors. :1689-1692

2009

Sensors, 2009 IEEE

Manap, Hadi and Dooly, Gerald and O'Keeffe, Sinead and Lewis, Elfed (2009) Sensors, 2009 IEEE. :140-145

2009

Sensors, 2009 IEEE

O'Keeffe, S and Lewis, E and Santhanam, A and Winningham, A and Rolland, JP (2009) Sensors, 2009 IEEE. :1689-1692

2009

Sensors, 2009 IEEE

O'Connell, E and O'Keeffe, S and Newe, T and Healy, M and Lewis, E and Lyons, WB (2009) Sensors, 2009 IEEE. :1800-1803

2009

Sensors, 2009 IEEE

O'Keeffe, S and Lewis, E and Santhanam, A and Rolland, JP (2009) Sensors, 2009 IEEE. :787-790

2009

Proceedings of IEEE Sensors

O'Connell E., O'Keeffe S., Newe T., Healy M., Lewis E., Lyons W.B. (2009) Proceedings of IEEE Sensors. :1800-1803

2009

Sensors, 2009 IEEE

Degner, M and Damaschke, N and Ewald, H and O'Keeffe, S and Lewis, E (2009) Sensors, 2009 IEEE. :95-99

2008

Sensors, 2008 IEEE

O'Keeffe, S and Ortoneda, M and Cullen, JD and Shaw, A and Phipps, D and Al-Shamma'a, AI and Fitzpatrick, C and Lewis, E (2008) Sensors, 2008 IEEE. :454-457

2008

Proceedings of IEEE Sensors

O'Keeffe S., Ortoneda M., Cullen J.D., Shaw A., Phipps D., Al-Shamma'a A.I., Fitzpatrick C., Lewis E. (2008) Proceedings of IEEE Sensors. :454-457

2006

Optical Fiber Sensors

O'Keeffe, Sinead and Fernandez Fernandez, Alberto and Fitzpatrick, Colin and Brichard, Beno^it and Lewis, Elfed (2006) Optical Fiber Sensors. :ThE78-

2005

Sensors, 2005 IEEE

O'Keeffe, S and Fitzpatrick, C and Lewis, E (2005) Sensors, 2005 IEEE. :758-

Conference Contributions

This author has not written any publications of this type yet.

Published Reports

This author has not written any publications of this type yet.

Editorials

This author has not written any publications of this type yet.

Book Reviews

This author has not written any publications of this type yet.

Other Publications