About the Project
Job Title: 3-year PhD Studentship
Department / Section:
Department of Surgery and Cancer
NIHR London in vitro diagnostics, Division of Surgery
Location: St Mary’s Campus
Reporting to:
Christopher Peters (Primary supervisor)
Professor George Hanna and Dr Melody Ni (Co-supervisors)
Working closely with:
Members of the NIHR London in-vitro diagnostics
Job Family/Level: PhD student
Working Hours: 36 months, with possibility of fixed-term appointment after the PhD has been awarded
Fixed-Term: The studentship will pay EU/UK tuition fees and annual stipend of £21,000 for maximum of 36 months
Application deadline: 31 Jan 2018
Interviews: Last week of February
Starting date: TBC with successful applicant.
Summary of Posts
Applications are invited for a fully funded PhD Studentship within NIHR London in vitro diagnostics, on the theme of biomarker discovery.
Research area
The PhD candidate will be supervised by Christopher Peters who is a Clinical Senior Lecturer and Upper GI surgeon with an academic programme built around translating Biomarkers into clinical practice. Professor George Hanna who is the Director of NIHR London in vitro diagnostics and Dr Melody Ni (Decision analyst and Methodologist) will be co-supervisors. In addition to being embedded in NIHR London in-vitro diagnostics there will be links to the Imperial Clinical Trials Unit- Surgery increasing the expertise available for the student to call upon.
The PhD project aims to develop a toolkit to aid the identification and prioritization of biomarkers in order to expedite clinical translation and to address clinical unmet needs. It is very hard to determine from the published literature of proposed biomarkers which are likely to achieve clinical adoption and we believe this is because clinical utility is determined by far more than just sensitivity and specificity. It is also down to the importance of the clinical question, usability, speed of turn around, etc, and most importantly patient and clinician acceptance. Because there is limited understanding of what is needed to transition a biomarker into the clinic millions of dollars are being spent on biomarker discovery with limited improvements in patient care.
We aim to determine the desirable attributes of a Biomarker, when they become measurable and important, and then assess the weighting these attributes should be given according to patients, clinicians and industry. We will assess how these attributes vary in importance across different cancers and types of biomarker.
We will then develop a toolkit that can quantifiably assess Biomarkers taking into account every important feature at every point of biomarker development. This can then be used to determine which biomarkers have the greatest potential and therefore are most worthy of development.
This project will involve collaborating with the CRUK Funded OCCAMS Collaboration in the United Kingdom and the POEM Biomarkers Consortium formed from centres across Europe (Belfast, Dublin, Edinburgh, Southampton, Rotterdam, Utrect, Cambridge and Imperial).
Qualifications and person-specifications
We are looking for candidates with a strong academic background (with a first class degree) or MSc in the following subjects:
● Biology
● Decision analysis
● Statistics
● Epidemiology
● Biomedical Engineering
Successful candidates will have experience in undertaking independent research in the above subjects and we are looking for individuals with an interest to further develop his/her skills.
The PhD student will be supervised by the multi-disciplinary team in the Division of Surgery including members of the NIHR funded London in-vitro diagnostics. Through the research programme at Imperial, the PhD students will benefit from strong links and involvement with the CRUK Imperial Centre, Institute for Global Health Innovation (www3.imperial.ac.uk/global-health-innovation). The student will be fully trained in relevant methodologies including decision analysis, Basyian statistical modelling, and qualitative analysis.
All students will be registered through the Imperial Graduate School which provides a full programme of training in research and transferable skills. Further details of the Department can be found at: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/graduateschools.
How to apply
In the first instance, please:
Email: [Email Address Removed] and [Email Address Removed]
Your expression of interest should contain the following items:
o Your CV
o A personal statement no more than 1000 words outlining: 1) your interest in the project, 2) your background, and 3) which research area(s) you would like to base your project on
o Scans of your educational certificates and transcripts from your Master’s degree and your Bachelor’s degrees
o Names and contact details of 2 referees who can speak to your educational background. Reference letters from these referees are ideal, but not required at this stage.
Short-listed candidates will be informed via email and will be interviewed.
Successful candidates will be required to formally apply through the Imperial College London Postgraduate Research (PhD) Programme route.
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