PhD Studentship in Biomedical Science at Newcastle University

PhD Studentship in Biomedical Science is a fully-funded, competitive scholarship programme awarded to outstanding students to pursue three years PhD research programme at Newcastle University. The University aims to attract outstanding students for this PhD scholarship.

Summary

Project Description

Are you interested in cancer, statistics and computing? If so, you could help improve the treatment of children with leukaemia.

Somatic genetic abnormalities in the leukaemic blasts of patients with acute leukaemia are among the hallmarks of the disease and are increasingly used in patient management as prognostic biomarkers. Although specific abnormalities are well-known to be associated with an excellent or inadequate response to chemotherapy, little is known about the interaction between somatic genetics and individual elements of the treatment pathway. Protocol modifications and improved risk stratification over the past 50 years have increased survival of childhood leukaemia from ~50% to >90%.

We hypothesis that patients with genetic abnormalities will respond optimally to specific but different treatment combinations; and that these combinations can be identified by analysing serial clinical trial datasets using artificial intelligence methodologies. Using well-annotated and detailed clinical trial datasets from >8,000 patients, the successful applicant will explore in-depth the interaction between a variety of class-defining somatic genetic abnormalities and drug doses, drug combinations and treatment blocks.

The objective of the study will be to define optimal treatment pathways for a selection of genetic subtypes, thereby recasting prognostic biomarkers into robust predictive biomarkers. The impact of research will be to enable future patients to be treated with more precise treatment schedules that maximise cure rates, minimise toxicity and improving long-term quality of life.  

For further information about this project, please contact Anthony Moorman anthony.moorman@newcastle.ac.uk or Amir Enshaei amir.enshaei@newcastle.ac.uk.

Application Deadline

The deadline for applications is May 01, 2021 

Eligibility

• You must have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2:1 honour’s degree or international equivalent, in an appropriate subject, including biomedical sciences, computing, statistics.
• The candidate must have or be willing to learn computing coding.
• A further qualification such as an MRes is advantageous.
• The award is available to Home applicants only.

Award Information

100% of Home tuition fees paid and annual living expenses of £15,609/annum (full award)

Application Process

You must apply through the University’s online postgraduate application system. To do this, please ‘Create a new account’.

Only mandatory fields need to be completed. However, you will need to include the following information:

• Insert the programme code 8300F* in the programme of study section
• Select ‘PhD in the Faculty of Medical Sciences – Cancer Research’ as the programme of study
• Insert the studentship code CR071 in the studentship/partnership reference field
• Attach a covering letter and CV. The covering letter must state the title of the studentship, quote the studentship reference code CR071 and state how your interests and experience relate to the project
• Attach degree transcripts and certificates and, if English is not your first language, a copy of your English language qualifications.

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