Cork girl Laura to represent Europe in young scientist contest

A University of Limerick student, from West Cork, is to represent Europe at an international young scientist competition.

Laura O’Regan, from Clonakilty, who is in her final year of her science education degree, was the winner of the Europe/Africa region, in Alltech’s Young Scientist Competition, and will now compete at the global final at the multinational animal-nutrition company’s One conference in Kentucky, this May.

Having already won €1,000 for making the final, the past student of the Sacred Heart secondary school, in Clonakilty, could get a fully funded PhD to continue her work, if she beats the other three contenders in the international final.

Ms O’Regan, who wants to teach biology and chemistry in secondary school, entered a project entitled the ‘Effect of Bone-derived Osteocalcin on the Early Calfhood Nutritional Control of Puberty in Bulls’.

The project focused on the skeletal system, the male reproductive system, and how a bull’s nutrition in the first few months of life can advance the onset of puberty. The study also examined the interaction of all three.

Ms O’Regan said that the practical applications of the project would enable the artificial-insemination industry to advance the onset of puberty in bulls, allowing them to produce better offspring sooner.

She is looking forward to the trip to Kentucky.

“It is so exciting. I entered and, to be honest, didn’t think anything of it,” she said.

“I was in a lecture when I got the email telling me I was the regional winner and I was shaking. I couldn’t believe it.”

Ms O’Regan’s research is part of a larger study funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the Irish Research Council, and was supervised by Dr Seán Fair and Dr Eibhlís O’Connor, at the University of Limerick, in collaboration with researchers in Teagasc and University College Dublin.

AllTech says its Young Scientist Competition is the world’s largest agri-science competition, and it holds regional competitions in North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Europe, ahead of its grand final.