Development of a new instrumental platform for Extracellular Vesicles characterization to aid Medical research and diagnostics

This is an exciting interdisciplinary project, allowing the candidate to work across the Medical and Engineering fields. The project has an instrument manufacturer as an industrial partner and the selected candidate work closely with the partner, making annual visits to their premises in Germany. The successful candidate will also be trained to do high quality scientific research relevant to the medical and engineering fields. A skillset that is attractive to industry will also be nurtured, aided by the regular industrial interaction. This will consequently be an extraordinary training opportunity, equipping the candidate for a career in academia or industry. The candidate will be located primarily in Sheffield, with a minimum of three months in Germany.

Extracellular Vesicles (EV) are small nanometer scale “bags” of molecules secreted in large amounts by cells. Information about EVs is currently limited. Worldwide many scientists and clinicians are working to understand biology/physiology of EVs as well as develop applications for EVs in diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. This proposal focuses on developing robust methods to characterise the properties of EVs, with a particular emphasis on distinguishing the membrane and contents’ composition for different EVs. The new methods and instrumentation targeted will provide a fundamental tool to allow the role of EVs in disease and other biological processes to be investigated, which will in turn lead to healthcare advances.

The particular approach investigated here is inspired by the hypothesis that measuring EV surface charge will allow biological communication pathways to be investigated. EV surface charge is termed Zeta Potential (ZP), and is known to correlate with surface composition.

The academic supervisors Alireza Fazeli (http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/oncology-metabolism/staff/fazeli) and Stephen Ebbens are experienced scientists in the fields of biological membrane physiology research, and the characterisation of colloidal systems respectively, and run successful, comprehensive and well-funded laboratories in Medical school and Chemical and Biological engineering departments in the university of Sheffield. Here we will work with an instrument manufacturer, Particle Metrix, who specialise in measuring nanoparticle characteristics.

The preferred candidate should have a 1st or 2nd Upper class biological degree. Candidates with relevant MSc experience will be prioritised. He/she should have a good knowledge of cell biology, immunology, nano-particles and physics. The scholarship is further enhanced by the industrial partner. Both supervisors have very well established international collaborations allowing the successful candidate to work in a very international oriented setting.

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