University of Oxford Molecular Biology PhD Projects, Programs & Scholarships

Dr S Jiang, Dr N Burgess-Brown

Application Deadline: 3 March 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

THE PROJECT. We have developed a technology to producing overlapping peptides - bacterial expression of an amino acid sequence corresponding to overlapping peptide sequences spanning the length of a protein of interest interspersed with enzymatic cleavage sites.

Hypoxia links the unfolded proteim response with the DNA damage response

Prof E Hammond, Prof A Giaccia

Application Deadline: 3 March 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

THE PROJECT. Regions of hypoxia (insufficient oxygen) occur in most if not all solid tumours and are clinically relevant as they correlate with poor patient prognosis and therapy resistance.

Investigation of the contribution of redox stress to the therapy resistance of cells experiencing cycling oxygen levels

Prof E Hammond, Dr S Conway

Application Deadline: 3 March 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

THE PROJECT. Hypoxia is a major barrier to successful cancer treatment as the more hypoxic a tumour, the less well patients respond.

Pre-clinical investigations of POLQ inhibitors

Dr G Higgins, Prof T Humphrey

Application Deadline: 3 March 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

THE PROJECT. The aim of our research is to improve radiotherapy for cancer patients by making tumour cells more sensitive to radiation without affecting the sensitivity of normal cells.

Targeting DNA repair to overcome cancer therapy resistance

Prof P McHugh, Prof T Brown

Application Deadline: 3 March 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

THE PROJECT. DNA cross-linking drugs and radiotherapy (RT) are used to treat a range of tumours including many hard-to-treat cancers (e.g.

Translating epigenetic control into novel cancer therapeutics

Prof N La Thangue, Prof D Kerr

Application Deadline: 3 March 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

THE PROJECT. The retinoblastoma protein pRb is a key tumour suppressor that governs fundamental mechanisms in the G1 to S phase transition of the cell cycle.

Understanding the impact of hypoxia dynamics on therapeutic response in breast cancer

Prof E Hammond, Prof H Byrne, Dr S Bohndiek

Application Deadline: 3 March 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project has funding attached for UK and EU students, though the amount may depend on your nationality. Non-EU students may still be able to apply for the project provided they can find separate funding. You should check the project and department details for more information.

THE PROJECT. THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN AWARDED FUNDING FROM CANCER RESEARCH UK (EUROPEAN/UK STUDENT ONLY). Hypoxia, resulting from an imbalance between oxygen delivery and consumption, is a common feature of most solid tumours associated clinically with.

EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Approaches to Biomedical Science: Responsible and Reproducible Research - SABS

University of Oxford
EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training

Funding Type

PhD Type

4 Year PhD Programme

4 Year PhD Programmes are extended PhD opportunities that involve more training and preparation. You will usually complete taught courses in your first year (sometimes equivalent to a Masters in your subject) before choosing and proposing your research project. You will then research and submit your thesis in the normal way.

EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training

EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training conduct research and training in priority areas funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Potential PhD topics are usually defined in advance. Students may receive additional training and development opportunities as part of their programme.

Funded PhD Programme (European/UK Students Only)

Some or all of the PhD opportunities in this programme have funding attached. It is available to citizens of a number of European countries (including the UK). In most cases this will include all EU nationals. However full funding may not be available to all applicants and you should read the full programme details for further information.

Good degree in the Physical or Life Sciences? Interested in biological or medical research? We offer fully-funded PhD places across the Oxford Doctoral Training Centre programmes.

Academic Endocrine Unit: investigating the molecular basis of endocrine and metabolic disorders that principally affect calcium and phosphate homeostasis.

University of Oxford
Radcliffe Department of Medicine

Prof R Thakker, Dr K Lines, Dr M Stevenson, Dr K Kooblall

Application Deadline: 24 July 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Other Potential Supervisors. Dr Asha Bayliss. The Academic Endocrine Unit investigates the molecular basis of endocrine and metabolic disorders that principally affect calcium and phosphate homeostasis.

Building the skull – normal and abnormal development

University of Oxford
Radcliffe Department of Medicine

Prof A Wilkie, Dr S Twigg

Application Deadline: 24 July 2020

Funding Type

PhD Type

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Using a combination of patient samples and mouse models, we study the causes and developmental origins of skull malformation. The work ranges from scanning human genome sequences for new mutations, to use of genome editing and single cell transcriptomics to model the developmental causes of these malformations in mice.