The World Health Organization (2020) reported that more than 3.5 billion people suffer from oral disease, with poor dental health linked to heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and mouth cancer. Developing novel approaches to understand the physiology and microbiology of oral care, to improve oral health are important research challenges. For example- why are mint compounds normally used in oral care products? Can other trigeminal stimulants (e.g., capsaicin, gingerol) be used in oral care products? What would be the impact of these bioactive ingredients on our oral health (e.g. breath volatiles, oral microbes, oral biofilms)? Can these ingredients boost flavour sensation and deliver a long-lasting effect? Can we develop novel and sustainable oral care formulations that use naturally derived and planet-friendly ingredients?
If you are interested in finding out the answers to the above questions, there is a 4-year fully-funded PhD studentship available in the School of Bioscience at the University of Nottingham. It is jointly funded by BBRSC and Unilever through the Nottingham BBSRC Doctoral Training Programme CASE scheme. This project involves a multidisciplinary team led by Dr Nicole Yang and based within the International Flavour Research Centre. You will also be co-supervised by Dr Vlad Dinu and Dr Jacob Pattem with access to the National Centre for Macromolecular Hydrodynamics. Dr Vera Slomka and Dr Andrew Joiner will be your industry supervisors at Unilever, where you will learn from the multidisciplinary teams and obtain experience in microbiomes and enamel analytics.
CASE studentships are highly sought-after positions which combine the advantages of full academic training with valuable industrial experience and input. The student will benefit from joining the BBSRC DTP community of over 220 postgraduate researchers, partaking in a broad range of training opportunities including the annual DTP conference. There will be a placement of approximately three months with the industrial partner Unilever, through their Materials Innovation Factory (MIF) in Liverpool, a state-of-the-art facility for computer-aided material science and the Centre for Genomic Research.
• 4-year PhD project
• Starts October 2022
• Stipend, fees and research funding provided
• Includes industrial placement at Unilever
Funding is available for four years from late September 2022. The award covers the tuition fee (£4,567) at the home rate plus an annual stipend (£15,840) for 2022. This is set by the Research Councils. Only candidate with UK fees status are currently eligible to apply.