Peter Downey

Undergraduate Degree

BSc. (Hons) Forensic & Pharmaceutical Analysis, 2007

Work History

  • Feb 2006 - Sept 2006; GxP Systems, Galway (Validation Engineer/Technical Writer)
  • June 2007 - Sept 2007; GxP Systems, Galway (Validation Engineer/Technical Writer)
  • Oct 2007 - April 2008; Dynamac Corporation, Kennedy Space Center, Florida (Intern)
  • April 2009 - April 2010; Dynamac Corporation, Kennedy Space Center, Florida (Postgraduate)

Favourite Scientific Quote

“Results? Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward...” Thomas Edison


About Peter

Peter Downey, a Limerick City resident, began his undergraduate degree in Forensic and Pharmaceutical Analysis in 2003 at the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT). During this four year period, Peter studied and trained in wide range of scientific theory and practice. During this time he also six months working with GxP Systems, a contractor for Boston Scientific, Galway, as a computer systems validation engineers and technical writer. This experience gave him invaluable experience with good documentation practices and validation techniques.

After graduating in 2007, Peter returned to GxP Systems as an engineer for four months before being selected for a government sponsored internship with Dynamac Corporation, at that time a contractor for NASA, and was based at the Space Life Science Laboratory (SLSL) in NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida. During this time Peter worked on two projects concerned with Advanced Life Support (ALS) System. The first investigated the action of Fava bean stomata, sites of gaseous exchange in leaves, when exposed to super-elevated levels of carbon dioxide and the role of hormone action during this exposure. The second involved the investigation of a new IR techniques for volatile organic compound (VOC) determination in air - for specific use onboard the International Space Station.

On his return from the internship, Peter, with the help of LIT and Dynamac Corporation, was awarded an IRCSET (Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology) grant under the Enterprise Partnership Scheme; in partnership with Dynamac Corporation and IRCSET, which allowed him to begin is postgraduate studies in LIT in 2008. Six months after beginning is PhD at LIT, Peter was awarded a second opportunity to travel to the SLSL in Florida, this time for a year, in order to intensify and improve his training and research skills. While there Peter worked under the guidance of Dr. Lanfang Levine and was responsible for work, as part of his PhD, which investigated the effects of gravity on bioactive compounds in soybean.

Having up-skilled in areas prevalent to his research, Peter returned to LIT and became one of a group of postgraduates that formed a new, dedicated research group with LIT’s Department of Applied Sciences, the CELLS Research Group. Peter is now beginning his third year of study within the CELLS research group at LIT. He is hoping to graduate in 2012.