Vacancies (LBSA)
All vacancies are also advertised on the Human Resources website.
Fellowships
Details of fellowships can be found on the LBSA Fellowships page:
Fellowships.
Postgraduate Studentships
Chemical gradient surfaces for biomolecular recognition
Single molecule investigations of bacterial DNA remodelling proteins
High throughput nanoscale arrays for screening drug-polymer interactions
High throughput nanoscale arrays for screening polymer antimicrobial properties
In-situ Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction for polymorph discovery
In-situ nanoscale analysis of novel anti-fouling coatings
Please also see the School's pages for other funded studentships and other opportunities
Chemical gradient surfaces for biomolecular recognition
Supervisors: Professor Clive Roberts, Dr Stephanie Allen & Professor Phil Williams.
You will use a range of approaches to create and characterize chemical gradients at surfaces to create a wide range of gradient types, including of wettability, functional group density and charge. These will allow us through biomolecular surface interaction studies to develop a toolbox to understand and tune biomolecular interactions at surfaces. A wide range of state of the art analytical and modelling tools will be employed in the project (www.nottingham.ac.uk/lbsa).
Candidates for the PhD studentship will have or expect to receive a minimum of a 2.1 class degree or equivalent in the (bio)chemical or physical sciences.
Contact: For general enquiries about admission please contact Branka Whitmore (branka.whitmore@nottingham.ac.uk ). For specific queries about the project please contact Prof Clive Roberts (clive.roberts@nottingham.ac.uk ).
Single molecule investigations of bacterial DNA remodelling proteins
Supervisors (School of Pharmacy): Dr Stephanie Allen, Professor Clive Roberts, Professor Phil Williams
Supervisor (School of Chemistry): Professor Panos Soultanas
Motivation: In B. subtilis two proteins essential to DNA replication are DnaD and DnaB, and our recent collaborative studies have discovered that these proteins have novel DNA remodelling activities. Together with other recent results from the Soultanas group, we are gaining increasing evidence that these proteins may act to globally regulate replication, transcription and repair processes within gram positive bacteria. Improvements in our understanding of such processes would impact on our knowledge of the processes underpinning gene regulation/expression within medically relevant organisms (Bacilli, Staphylococci, Streptococci and Clostridia), and could potentially lead to the identification new antibacterial therapeutic targets.
Experimental methods: We nowneed to obtain fundamental quantitative biophysical data tounderstand how these proteins function and alter the structure of the DNA at themolecular level. Working closely with a postdoctoral researcher (employed through a recently awarded BBSRC project), this studentship will use single molecule biophysical tools, to investigate these processes, and in particular how they are influence by other replication proteins (such as DnaI). The employed techniques will include atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging and force measurements, supported by complementary biophysical methods (SPR, QCM, TEM etc).
Person specification: Prospective candidates should have a good (2:1 or above) degree in a relevant subject area (e.g. pharmacy, biophysics, biological sciences, chemistry) and meet the University requirements for English (an IELTS score of 6 with no less than 5 at each skill or TOEFL 550 + 4 TWE or equivalent).
The position: This position is available to a self-funded student. Assistance with securing any awards, bursaries etc may be available.
Contact: For general enquiries about admission please contact Branka Whitmore (branka.whitmore@nottingham.ac.uk ). For specific queries about the project please contact Prof Clive Roberts (clive.roberts@nottingham.ac.uk ).
High throughput nanoscale arrays for screening drug-polymer interactions
A 3-year PhD position, School of Pharmacy, Nottingham University
Motivation: Many drugs are delivered mixed with polymers, allowing clinically relevant physical properties such as wettability, dissolution rate, release rate etc to be optimised. To develop a new treatment it is necessary to screen and test many different drug-polymer loadings, using a wide range of polymers in order to optimise the formulation. At present this requires significant amounts of time and material. This project will explore the use of printed drug-polymer arrays, coupled with nanoscale thermal analysis (nanoTA), with the aim of developing and implementing a very rapid and reliable method of developing new treatments for a range of diseases and conditions including cancer, chronic pain, etc.
Experimental methods: The award of a recent £1.4 million grant from the Wellcome Trust (Prof Davies, Prof Williams & Dr Alexander at Nottingham, Profs Langer & Anderson at MIT) has enabled the LBSA to invest in a state of the art array printer, capable of printing controlled mixtures of polymers and drugs. This printer will be used to produce polymer/drug arrays on glass slides. The interactions between the drug and polymer will be probed using nanoTA, in which a modified atomic force microscope tip is heated while in contact with the sample. The deflection of the tip is measured as the sample is heated, and this allows thermal events including melting points to be determined using nanoscale amounts of material. The thermal data will be correlated with the composition of the samples to allow a full understanding of drug/polymer interactions.
Person specification: Prospective candidates should have a good (2:1 or above) degree in a relevant subject area (e.g. pharmacy, materials science, chemistry) and meet the University requirements for English (an IELTS score of 6 with no less than 5 at each skill or TOEFL 550 + 4 TWE or equivalent).
The position: This position is available to a self-funded student. Assistance with securing any awards, bursaries etc may be available.
Contact: For general enquires about admission please contact Branka Whitmore (branka.whitmore@nottingham.ac.uk). For specific queries about the project please contact Dr Jonathan Burley (jonathan.burley@nottingham.ac.uk ) or Dr Morgan Alexander (morgan.alexander@nottingham.ac.uk ).
High throughput nanoscale arrays for screening polymer antimicrobial properties
A 3-year PhD position, School of Pharmacy, Nottingham University
Motivation: Microbial infections are a growing problem in healthcare, with examples including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile (C. diff.). The production of polymers which exhibit strong anti-microbial properties represents a significant challenge, the achievement of which has significant implications for producing safer medical devices (catheters, stents, implants etc) and in other healthcare settings. This project aims to screen a wide range of chemically different polymers to develop materials which exhibit strong anti-microbial properties and can be used in the next generation of biomedical devices.
Experimental methods: The award of a recent £1.4 million grant from the Wellcome Trust (Prof Davies, Prof Williams & Dr Alexander at Nottingham, Profs Langer & Anderson at MIT) has enabled the LBSA to invest in a state of the art array printer, capable of printing controlled arrays using a wide variety of polymers. The project will involve characterising the anti-microbial properties of these arrays using surface analytical techniques, fluorescence microscopy, microbial cell culture methods and chemometric methods.
Person specification: Prospective candidates should have a good (2:1 or above) degree in a relevant subject area (e.g. pharmacy, materials science, biological sciences, chemistry) and meet the University requirements for English (an IELTS score of 6 with no less than 5 at each skill or TOEFL 550 + 4 TWE or equivalent).
The position: This position is available to a self-funded student. Assistance with securing any awards, bursaries etc may be available.
Contact: For general enquires about admission please contact Branka Whitmore (branka.whitmore@nottingham.ac.uk ). For specific queries about the project please contact Dr Jonathan Burley (jonathan.burley@nottingham.ac.uk ) or Professor Martyn Davies (martyn.davies@nottingham.ac.uk ).
In-Situ Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction for polymorph discovery
Motivation: To recover from a disease, a patient takes a medicine. Over 90 % of medicines are delivered to patients as solids (tablets, inhaled powders, etc). The materials properties of medicines are vitally important in delivering the correct dose in a safe and timely manner. Most drug molecules can adopt more than crystalline form, known as polymorphs. It is essential (and a regulatory requirement) to understand the crystallisation and polymorphic behaviour of new drug forms. The project will use state of the art instrumentation and rapid data collection (thousandths of a second) to meet this challenge.
Experimental methods: The University of Nottingham have recently taken delivery of a new Raman microscope, capable of collecting a spectrum in 1/1000 of a second, and of a new state of the art powder diffractometer.
These will both be used to investigate polymorphism, and to gain an understanding of the transformation mechanisms between different polymorphs. Some density-functional theory calculations will also be undertaken, using the University High Performance Computing system.
Person specification: Prospective candidates should have a good (2:1 or above) degree in a relevant subject area (e.g. pharmacy, materials science, chemistry) and meet the University requirements for English (an IELTS score of 6 with no less than 5 at each skill or TOEFL 550 + 4 TWE or equivalent).
The position: This position is available to a self-funded student. Assistance with securing any awards, bursaries etc may be available.
Contact: For general enquires about admission please contact Branka Whitmore (branka.whitmore@nottingham.ac.uk ). For specific queries about the project please contact Dr Jonathan Burley (jonathan.burley@nottingham.ac.uk ).
In situ nanoscale analysis of novel anti-fouling coatings
3.5 year BBSRC CASE Studentship
Supervisors: LBSA: Clive Roberts, MorganAlexander and Stephanie Allen
Dow Corning Ltd: Victoria James and Stuart Leadley
A UK/EU PhD student is required for a collaborative study between the School of Pharmacy (ranked number 1 for research excellence in the UK (Research Assessment Exercise 2008)) and Dow Corning (Belgium). We aim to develop and characterize novel controlled release coatings containing active agents. Critical to this development will be an assessment of the effect of micro and nano surface topography, chemistry and local nano-mechanical properties on the release properties of the coating. You will exploit a range of state of the art analysis techniques, and in particular will use atomic force and scanning ion conductance microscopy to characterize the coatings (www.nottingham.ac.uk/lbsa).
The successful candidate will have a 1 or 2.1 class degree (or equivalent) in a related science based subject such as pharmacy, chemistry or materials.
Funding Notes
This BBSRC-funded studentship will pay the tuition fees for UK and EU students, and a stipend of around £13,590 + CASE enhancement per year for UK students.
To apply for this studentship please supply a full cv and covering letter to Gail Atkinson (gail.atkinson@nottingham.ac.uk). Application deadline 28th Feb 2012