MPhil, PhD Chemistry

Using commercially available frequency combs to develop new techniques for stand-off detection of molecular species at trace levels.

Development of high speed gas concentration measurement systems using diode lasers for use in combustion emission measurements

You will work under the supervision of Dr Fraser J Scott to investigate an aspect of Science Education Research. This will likely be on a topic involving the overlap of Science and Mathematics education, but the specific topic is open for discussion.

You will work under the supervision of Dr Fraser J Scott to develop Strathclyde Minor Groove Binders as anti-infective agents. Experimental work will include organic chemistry, but also biochemical (enzyme assays), biophysical (UV-vis, NMR) and biology (in vitro activity) aspects.

The student will investigate and quantify structure/reactivity relationships in nickel catalysis using a range of techniques including organic/organometallic synthesis, physical organic chemistry, and density functional theory, as appropriate.

Developing novel methodologies for portable detection of a variety of illicit substances including but not limited to drugs of abuse, explosives, gunshot residue and / or screening of bodily fluids at crime scenes.

Developing novel methodologies for portable, rapid, point-of-care detection of a variety of biomedically relevant markers for use in biomedical diagnostics

This project will investigate Raman scattering and its variations (surface enhanced (SERS) and stimulated (SRS)) to assess cancer cells and tissue prior to and following treatment with conventional anticancer drugs and particularly new alternative drugs that have shown promise as anticancer agents.

The discovery of new medicines to treat disease requires the identification, understanding and validation of biological pathways and targets. This project resides in the Healthcare technologies theme, aligning with the growth area of Chemical Biology and the areas of Analytical Science and Synthetic Organic Chemistry.

The aim of this project is to address the challenge of directly detecting disease biomarker panels in serum featuring target species whose relative concentrations span many orders of magnitude.

Design and application of new conjugated polymer photocatalysts for light-driven conversion of carbon dioxide into useful chemical intermediates.

The prospective student will work with Dr Fraser Scott to develop new treatments for leishmaniasis using the novel class of anti-infective agents, Strathclyde Minor Groove Binders. This will involve a combination of synthetic chemistry, biophysical measurements and biological evaluation.

This PhD project will investigate the chemical interactions between microplastics, soil/sediment, and potentially toxic elements (PTE) through laboratory and field experiments. It will involve aspects of analytical, physical and environmental chemistry.

This project will explore new methods for directed meta-C-H activation to deliver complementary, flexible, and powerful methods to access a variety of pharmaceutically desired organic products and isotopically labelled late stage candidate-type molecules.

Cancer has been one of the most life-threatening diseases for humans, and its effective control relies upon early diagnosis. However, conventional detection techniques are based in large hospitals or laboratories, where there is a large sample volume, complex protocol and a long testing time. Therefore, convenient and cost-effective techniques for early diagnosis of cancer are urgently needed.

Cancer nanomedicine is dominating modern healthcare. This project is an opportunity to contribute to the development of novel nanomedicine interventions for the targeted and triggered release of pharmaceuticals in pancreatic cancer.

The project will take a biophysical approach to studying molecular recognition events in a ligand/nucleic acid context. It will use NMR spectroscopy, in silico modelling and associated analytical chemistry methods that will lead to better knowledge of the factors affecting these molecular recognition processes.

This PhD project aims to develop next generation point-of-care devices incorporating a reagent free sample concentrator and a sensing element.

An industrially collaborative PhD project in the laboratories of Dr Craig Jamieson is available for an immediate start in the area of biomolecular labelling. The project will make use of emerging findings from our laboratories in developing new reagents for tagging proteins.

Active matter has developed into one of the most exciting interdisciplinary research areas. Following the spirit of R. Feynman ‘what I cannot create I do not understand’ our goal is to create smart artificial active matter and to broaden the material range and achieve novel (biomimetic) functionalities that pave the way to applications in the biomedical or environmental field.

The objective for this PhD project is to develop a novel biosensor for highly sensitive and selective detection of biomarkers, with the potential application in clinical settings. The student will develop chem-bio interface for electrochemical biosensor development, and also explore new amplification strategy for improve the biomarker detection performance.

Working within a small highly-focused research team, the successful applicant will synthesize UCNPs with varied surface chemistry and photonic properties for non-invasive biosensing applications. This is an interdisciplinary project spanning inorganic nanoparticle synthesis, photonic materials, organic molecular loading, and biosensing.

The conformational analysis of proteins relating to health and disease can be challenging due to their dynamic nature. This project will develop new analytical methods to increase understanding of these proteins so they can be targeted with new drugs.

A fully-funded three-year PhD project on “Artificial Chemical Intelligence for Pharmaceutical Discovery and Development”. The studentship will be supervised by Dr David Palmer in the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry at the University of Strathclyde. It will provide training in artificial intelligence, computational chemistry, and biomolecular simulation.

A 4-year PhD project that focuses on using and developing artificial intelligence algorithms, coupled to molecular dynamics simulations to study gelation behaviour. This project is aligned with a major international pharmaceutical company and will benefit from collaboration with experimental colleagues from that company.

Microbiology and Industrial Biotechnology, antibiotic-producing bacteria, genomics, genetics

CLXL12, cancer, Nuclear factor kappa B, signalling, molecular. Cellular Basis of disease/Drug discovery

Combining synthetic lipid chemistry with microfluidics to design tailor made ionisable cationic lipids to be incorporated into optimum lipid nanoparticle delivery systems for RNA cancer therapeutics and new/improved COVID vaccines.

Strathclyde Research Studentship Scheme (SRSS) doctoral studentships are available annually for excellent students and excellent research projects.  There are two main sources of funding: Central University funding, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council - Doctoral Training Partnership (EPSRC - DTP) funding.

The SRSS 2023/2024 competition will open in Autumn 2022 and students successful in this competition will commence studies in October 2023. Faculties will set their own internal deadlines for the competition.

Academics/Supervisors make the applications for this scheme and there are various deadlines across the Department/Schools and Faculties, therefore, in the first instance, all interested students should contact the Department/School where they would like to carry out their research.