An exciting opportunity for a fully-funded 42-month PhD studentship co-funded by a world-leading medical devices company and EPSRC is available at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde. The successful candidate will work closely with a multidisciplinary team of senior academics and industry collaborators to investigate endovascular aortic arch stent graft designs in relation to post-operative in-graft thrombus formation in the repaired aorta.

This project aims to develop a new computational tool, combining molecular simulations and machine learning approaches, to predict the solubility of complex pharmaceutical molecules in a variety of solvents.

You will work under the supervision of Dr Fraser J Scott to investigate Strathclyde Minor Groove Binders in combination with existing antibiotics. Experimental work will involve in vitro susceptibility testing, toxicity testing, and mechanism of action studies on clinical isolates.

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 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 project will explore new methods for direct hydrogen isotope exchange of oligonucleotides, and other heterocycles of elevated importance in drug discovery, using catalyst classes developed at Strathclyde. This will deliver flexible and powerful methods to access various pharmaceutically desired organic products and isotopically labelled late-stage candidate-type molecules. Computationally-driven methods will also be used to inform catalyst design and direct the emerging reaction scope.

This project will explore new methods for directed C-H activation and hydrogen isotope exchange, based on state-of-the-art isotopic labelling catalysts developed at Strathclyde. Whilst being primarily preparatively based, mechanistic investigations will also inform new catalyst design, blending computational studies with kinetic measurements. The new catalysts and methods that emerge will provide a range of efficient methods to access a variety of isotopically labelled drug-like entities.

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.

Co-funded by GSK, to develop innovative surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based sensors for the investigation of oligonucleotide drugs. These sensors will enable the precise detection of critical structural changes, including high-order structures, base mismatches, and other modifications essential for drug development and quality control.

In collaboration with Renishaw Plc, this project aims to investigate a new technology that Renishaw have developed to improve the capabilities of Raman imaging. The technology will be applied to several areas, including imaging tissue biopsies for cancer diagnosis and studying drug molecules for monitoring cellular uptake. This PhD will also include an industrial placement at Renishaw’s New Mills site and continual engagement with industrial supervisors.

Super-large language models such as ChatGPT have demonstrated surprising abilities in handling natural language, solving mathematical problems and writing programming code. Still, there is very little formal assessment of their capabilities in specialised domains, such as medical. The project will explore how certain various clinical events (such as readmitting a patient to a hospital) can be predicted based on the notes that the health professionals write in free text form.

The aim is to create a successful Artificial Intelligence (AI) implementation and, through that, gain a better understanding of what makes a successful AI implementation in the relevant healthcare problem area.

John Anderson Research Studentship Scheme (JARSS) doctoral studentships are available annually for excellent students and excellent research projects.

There are two main sources of funding:

• Central University funding
• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council - Doctoral Landscape Award (EPSRC - DLA) funding.

The JARSS 2025/26 competition will open in October 2024 and students successful in this competition will commence studies in October 2025. Faculties will set their own internal deadlines for the competition.

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