Detect, Treat and Tell: Skin patches to sense infection and indicate recovery

Populations in low resource settings need easy access to continuous healthcare and medical treatment and there are many contributing factors as to why there is an imbalance when it comes to demand and accessibility. One way that would significantly contribute to tackling the imbalance is to develop devices that can detect, treat and indicate when infection is cleared from the body; specifically, for infected skin wounds. This joint EPSRC/industry studentship aims to utilise advances in biosensor technology, materials engineering, nanomaterials chemistry and biomarker detection and transport to develop point-of-care devices that effectively detect, treat and tell.

In partnership with the global healthcare company, the project has the potential to support and change the way populations in low resource settings access diagnosis and treatment of infections. The work in this project will seek to bridge the gap between demand and availability of healthcare technologies by providing affordable, easy-to-access and easy-to-use point-of-care devices.

This exciting PhD project has a strong multidisciplinary nature and the candidate should have a strong interest in biosensors, bioelectronics, materials engineering, membrane science and biomedical engineering. Hands-on training will be provided as appropriate to the project including biomaterials development and characterisation, material modification/ functionalisation, electrochemistry, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.

This PhD studentship is available within the C3Bio Doctoral Training Initiative: Grand Challenges in Health Technologies. The Centre for Biosensors, Bioelectronics and Biodevices (C3Bio) gathers over 75 researchers from engineering, physical, life and social sciences. The Centre develops technology that improves biomedical diagnosis, environmental monitoring, industrial bioprocesses and scientific understanding of biological functions; it bridges the gap between different disciplines converging into fit-for-purpose devices in order to achieve real-life impact with its research. In this Doctoral Training Initiative, a small cohort of PhD students from different disciplines will be working on interlinked projects within the Grand Challenge of "Disease diagnosis for low-resource settings". The C3Bio DTI will provide a multidisciplinary cohort training environment with a focus on achieving real-life impact of the research.


Candidate:

The successful applicant will ideally have graduated (or be due to graduate) with an undergraduate Masters first class degree or MSc distinction (or overseas equivalent). English language requirements must be met at the time of application to be considered for funding.

Application:

Formal applications should be made via the University of Bath’s online application form for a PhD in Chemical Engineering. Please ensure you state the full project title and lead supervisor name.

https://samis.bath.ac.uk/urd/sits.urd/run/siw_ipp_lgn.login?process=siw_ipp_app&code1=RDUCE-FP01&code2=0014

Anticipated start date: 20th January 2020