Other (2.2) PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) is a family of transcription factors that play a crucial role in regulating various cellular processes; primarily related to immune responses, inflammation, and cell survival. Read more

Supervisor: Dr G Hall

Structural investigation of oncogenic splicing factors

Supervisors: Dr C Dominguez, Prof I Eperon, Prof A Hudson

More than 90% of human genes can and do express multiple proteins. This is achieved by a process called alternative RNA splicing, which is an essential step in gene expression in mammals. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Targeting senescence to ameliorate ageing and treat cancer and other age-related diseases

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Ageing is a biological process that affects all humans. Despite the scientific advances of the past decades, the mechanisms that lead to ageing are not fully understood. Read more

Supervisor: Prof S Macip

Understanding centrosome assembly in healthy and cancerous tissue with imaging

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

This is an opportunity for a scientist to join the lab of Dr Robert Mahen in the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology at the University of Leicester. Read more

Supervisor: Dr R Mahen

Microfluidic Encapsulation of biologics into Nanomedicines

Supervisor: Prof D Lamprou

Progress in drug design has led to the development of new peptides, proteins, and drug molecules. However, the limited ability to deliver selectively these molecules at well-defined dosing regimens and without invoking drug-resistance remains a significant challenge. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

Multipurpose gel formulations containing antiretroviral-loaded lactoferrin nanoparticles and antibiotics for combination HIV prevention and treatment of bacterial vaginosis

Supervisors: Dr S Carmali, Prof K Malcolm

This is an exemplar PhD project co-supervised by Dr. Sheiliza Carmali (School of Pharmacy) and Prof. Karl Malcolm (School or Pharmacy). Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Designing and evaluating novel nanotherapeutics to enhance the effectiveness of radiotherapy in the treatment of solid cancers.

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

One in two cancer patients will receive radiotherapy as part of their treatment. For patients with a localised cancer diagnosis effective radiotherapy represents the best chance of a curative outcome, however, is not without risk. Read more

Supervisor: Dr J Coulter

Developing biodegradable long acting drug delivery systems for the treatment of chronic conditions

Supervisors: Dr E Larraneta, Prof R Donnelly

Non-adherence to treatment costs the NHS more than £500M each year. Adherence is especially important when treating patients with chronic conditions that require lifetime pharmacological treatment, such as schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, HIV and Alzheimer’s disease. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Peptide-based nanoparticles for brain targeted gene delivery.

Supervisors: Dr E McErlean, Prof H McCarthy

Gene therapy has the potential to provide therapeutic benefit to millions of people with neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. Delivery into the brain is hampered by the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which limits the efficacy of both conventional and novel therapies at the target site. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Genetic Engineering of Immune Effector Cells for CAR therapies using a Peptide Technology

Supervisors: Dr E McErlean, Prof H McCarthy

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T therapies have demonstrated remarkable treatment outcomes and several CAR-T therapies now approved for treatment of haematological malignancies. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Self-regulating, self-cleaning biomaterials

Supervisors: Prof C McCoy, Dr M Wylie

A major problem associated with medical devices is infection. With infection rates of approaching 100% in some devices, ways to prevent formation of bacterial biofilm on medical device surfaces are urgently required. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Self-Navigating Nanocarriers for Intracellular Protein Delivery

Supervisor: Dr W Al-Jamal

Protein-based therapeutics have shown remarkable success in modulating extracellular targets; however, effective intracellular delivery remains a key challenge in biotherapeutics. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Freeze-dried bacteriophage formulations against antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Supervisors: Dr T Skvortsov, Prof K Malcolm, Dr V Kett

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) presents a significant global public health issue. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only

University of Bristol Bristol Medical School

Establishing the feasibility of serial optical coherence tomography-otoscopy and microbiological testing in children with suspected acute otitis media in primary care: systematic review and prospective cohort study

Supervisors. Professor Alastair Hay (lead), Dr Ashley Hammond,. Rationale. Acute otitis media (AOM) is a common, painful condition of childhood, often treated inappropriately with antibiotics. Read more

Supervisors: Prof A Hay, Dr AH Hammond

Year round applications PhD Research Project Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

Nanoparticle delivery of antibiotics for treatment of pulmonary infection

Supervisors: Dr V Kett, Prof M Tunney

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a major global risk to human health by causing death, disability, longer hospitalisations, and increased healthcare costs. Read more

Year round applications PhD Research Project Self-Funded PhD Students Only