PhD Studentship in Computing - Systems Biology of Psoriasis: Bridging the Gap between Computer and Clinic

Number of Awards:
1

Start date and duration:
May or October 2018 for 3 years.

Overview:
This research is part of a prestigious Rosetrees Trust grant recently awarded to Prof Reynolds and Dr Zuliani at Newcastle. The overall aim is deriving personalised ultraviolet B (UVB) treatment regimes for psoriasis, a chronic and disabling inflammatory skin disease. Psoriasis affects ~2% of the UK population, and prevents patients from living a normal life. The personalised treatments will be clinically tested at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle. Specifically, this project will integrate computational modelling with statistical biomarker analysis and machine learning to understand what determines individual patient response to therapeutic UVB. Next, we will combine machine learning and formal verification approaches to identify optimised and individualised UVB treatment protocols. This will permit rigorous testing of systematic variations in standard phototherapy protocols, adjusted for individual factors; only verified protocols will progress through to clinical tests.

This studentship provides a unique opportunity to perform truly interdisciplinary research that could impact clinical practice. The project team comprises a medical PhD student and a clinical research fellow, and a post-doctoral researcher in computing. There are also excellent opportunities for interaction with the stratified medicine project PSORT (http://www.psort.org.uk/), in which both Prof Reynolds and Dr Zuliani are co-investigators. Prof Reynolds heads the Dermatology research department in Newcastle comprising basic scientists and clinicians, and leads the Newcastle component (>£1 million) of the PSORT project (£5.1 million). The successful candidate will be based with Dr Zuliani in the School of Computing’s ICOS group (http://ico2s.org/), which consists of 50 individuals conducting cutting-edge research at the interface of computing science and complex biological systems. The School of Computing, including the ICOS group, has recently moved in a new, state-of-the-art, £58 million building.

Sponsor:
School of Computing (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/), Newcastle University.

Name of supervisor(s):
Dr P Zuliani (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/people/profile/paolo.zuliani), School of Computing
Professor N J Reynolds (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/icm/people/profile/nickreynolds.html#background), Institute of Cellular Medicine

Eligibility Criteria

The successful candidate has an excellent first degree in, e.g., computer science, mathematics, or physics. Knowledge of biology is not a prerequisite, since the ICOS group offers plentiful learning opportunities via its own MSc modules, weekly research seminars, etc.

This award is available to UK/EU and non-EU international applicants.

How to apply:
You must apply through the University’s online postgraduate application system (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply/). To do this please ‘Create a new account’.
Only mandatory fields need to be completed. However, you will need to include the following information:
•insert the programme code 8050F in the programme of study section
•select ’PhD Computer Science (Computing Science)’, as the programme of study
•insert the studentship code CS057
•attach covering letter, CV and (if English is not your first language) a copy of English language qualifications. The covering letter must state title of studentship, quote reference CS057 and describe how your research interests fit with the topic of research project outlined in the advertisement (maximum of two pages).
•please send your covering letter and CV by e-mail to [Email Address Removed].