Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has become a major medical challenge with huge social and economic consequences due to increasing life expectancy. The precise etiology of AD is not known yet, and currently there is no cure. Therefore, there are urgent research needs to understand the pathogenesis of AD, and to develop novel therapeutic strategies.

The accumulation of β-Amyloid (Aβ) plaques in the central nervous system (CNS) contributes in part to the CNS dysfunction and behavioural changes in AD patients, through modulating the neuroinflammatory responses involving CNS resident neuron and glial cells. Research studies show that nanoparticles such as gold nanoclusters induce important innate and adaptive immune responses which play a pivotal role in the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as AD, thus treatment with specific gold nanoclusters (Ly-AuNCs) may inhibit the formation of Aβ plaques and reduce disease pathology. This study aims to determine the effect of Ly-AuNCs on modulating the pathophysiology of AD and the associated neurological and immunological mechanisms.

The successful candidate will be integrated into the exciting research in Alzheimer’s disease research supervised by Dr Hui-Rong Jiang, Dr Yu Chen and Dr Shuzo Sakata, based at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy & Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS) and Physics Department at the University of Strathclyde. The study will utilise and provide training in various cellular and molecular research techniques in the areas of immunology, neuroscience and nanotechnology. In addition, the student will participate in the excellent research training programme designed for PhD students at SIPBS in data handling and statistical interpretation, ethics and medicines regulation, information and database searching, personal development planning, scientific writing and presentation. Thus the project provides an excellent training opportunity for the appointed student in this multidisciplinary research field.

Applications should also include a covering letter, a copy of CV and academic transcript. Closing date for application is 30 May 2022. Informal enquires about the project can be made to Dr Hui-Rong Jiang at huirong.jiang@strath.ac.uk.