Prof K Dalgarno
No more applications being accepted
Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
Number of awards:
1
Start date and duration:
23 September 2019 for 3 years.
Overview:
This studentship will focus on the development of bioprinting techniques to support the development of physiological tissue models for disease modelling and skin toxicity testing. The studentship is sponsored by ERDF funds and by Alcyomics Ltd, a Newcastle University spin-out company who specialise in pre-clinical drug safety and efficacy testing.
Bioprinting is a new set of technologies which allow for the deposition of human cells and biomaterials. The technologies are new and developing, but one potential application of the techniques is their use for creating tissue model pre-cursors, by depositing multiple cell types to create co-cultures which can be matured to produce small tissue-models with appropriate physiological properties for disease modelling and drug testing.
The aim of this studentship would be to research the use of bioprinting techniques in the creation of physiological micro-tissue models, with a specific focus on exploiting the techniques to improve the overall productivity of the process of creating micro-tissue models.
The successful applicant will develop and evaluate bioprinting techniques for the scalable manufacture of models for use in assessing new pharmaceutical products. This will involve the use of a range of bioprinting techniques techniques to process cells, proteins and biomaterials in order to create representative models. The project will involve working collaboratively within the University and with Alcyomics.
Sponsor:
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Alcyomics Ltd
Name of supervisor(s):
Professor Dalgarno (https://www.ncl.ac.uk/csbb/people/profile/kennydalgarno.html#background), Dr Ferreira-Duarte, Dr Gentile.
Eligibility Criteria:
Applications are sought from candidates with a minimum of an upper-second-class Honours degree or an MSc in mechanical engineering, biological science, bioengineering, materials science, biomaterials science, or a related subject. Good analytical, experimental, project management and communication skills are required.
The studentship is available to UK/EU applicants only.
How to apply:
You must apply through the University’s online postgraduate application system (https://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply/). To do this please ‘Create a new account’.
All relevant fields should be completed, but fields marked with a red asterisk in the application portal must to be completed. The following information will help us to process your application. You will need to:
insert the programme code 8090F in the programme of study section
select ‘PhD in Mechanical Engineering - Mechanical and Systems Engineering’ as the programme of study
insert the studentship code ENG049 in the studentship/partnership reference field
attach a covering letter and CV. The covering letter must state the title of the studentship, quote reference code ENG049 and state how your interests and experience relate to the project
attach degree transcripts and certificates and, if English is not your first language, a copy of your English language qualifications.
Funding Notes
100% of UK/EU tuition fees paid and annual living expenses of £15,009 (full award-rising with inflation). Also, additional funding for local, national and international travel (conferences and exchanges).