Are you holding Master’s degree and looking for fully funded PhD positions? University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England invites online application for multiple funded PhD Programs / fully funded PhD positions in various research areas.
Candidates interested in fully funded PhD positions can check the details and may apply as soon as possible. Interested and eligible applicants may submit their online application for PhD programs via the University’s Online Application Portal.
1. Fully Funded PhD Position in Unlocking the code within the code: Using AI to decipher the role of codon usage in protein synthesis and gene regulation
Summary of PhD Program:
The genetic code contains 61 codons encoding 20 amino acids and most amino acids are therefore encoded by two or more ‘synonymous’ codons. Despite producing the same protein, the choice of one synonymous codon over another plays an important role in gene regulation [1,2]. Some codons slow down translation, which in turn triggers mRNA degradation and halt protein synthesis. Protein synthesis is often dysregulated in cancer, making mRNA translation an attractive therapeutic target. This project uses artificial intelligence (AI) to unravel the underlying mechanism by which codon-level information regulates translation.
Application Deadline: 31 October 2024
2. Fully Funded PhD Position in Multi-modal spatial data integration to predict breast cancer treatment response
Summary of PhD Program:
Breast cancer patients show highly variable responses to different treatments. Some respond durably, while others start by responding but eventually relapse and a subset show little evidence of response at all. The biological basis of these differences remains obscure but the spatial architecture of tumours is likely a major contributor. Novel technologies for multiplexed molecular measurements of tumour tissues that preserve spatial relationships offer the opportunity to precisely dissect the contribution of the spatially resolved multicellular tumour ecosystem as a response driver. To take full advantage of multiplexed spatial measurements, however, we must devise efficient computational tools to parse and integrate these data across assays.
Application Deadline: 31 October 2024
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3. Fully Funded PhD Position in Investigating the low-to-high grade glioma transition using spatial multi-omics
Summary of PhD Program:
This project will be hosted in the Spatial Profiling and Annotation Centre of Excellence (SPACE), an interdisciplinary laboratory dedicated to developing and applying spatial molecular profiling technologies established by the group of Prof. Hannon after a successful Cancer Grand Challenge project. The laboratory routinely uses a variety of spatial omics technologies including spatial transcriptomics, multiplexed immunohistochemistry, single-cell genomics, 3D whole-organ microscopy and more, and actively develops new technologies for spatial epigenomics and multi-omics. The Mair laboratory is focussed on understanding low to high grade transformation in glioma, specifically concentrating on how metabolic changes (via mass spectrometry imaging) can affect cancer cell and microenvironmental phenotypes at the level of the proteome and the modified proteome e.g. phosphoproteome.
Application Deadline: 4 November 2024
4. Fully Funded PhD Position in Developing digital tools to support a personalised preventative pathway for childrens mental health
Summary of PhD Program:
The Timely project aims to develop digitally supported personalised prevention pathways for children’s mental health services. Baseline work has been carried out to construct a linked, population-level, multi-agency, longitudinal database including administrative and clinical records from health, education and social care records. A blueprint for a preventative pathway has been developed. This project will take forward the blueprint, refine it with a broad range of stakeholders including children and families, and co-develop detailed specifications for AI-driven digital tools. Particular attention will be placed on taking a responsible AI approach.
Application Deadline: 30 November 2024
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5. Fully Funded PhD Position in Delineating piRNA-guided silencing of transposable elements
Summary of PhD Program:
This project aims to uncover the molecular mechanisms that underlie the piRNA pathway mainly using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model. While a rough framework of the piRNA machinery has been established in recent years, the precise hierarchy of the events that result in faithful transposon silencing is not yet fully understood. In your project you will exploit tissue culture as well as in vivo models, and carry out various biochemical, proteomic, imaging, genomics (including state-of-the-art RNA and chromatin profiling methods), and computational approaches to study piRNA-guided transposon control. This project is expected to contribute to our understanding of this fascinating small RNA pathway and discover fundamental biology with impacts on the RNA and chromatin biology fields.
Application Deadline: 31 October 2024
6. Fully Funded PhD Position in Chemical Biology of the Genome and the Epigenome
Summary of PhD Program:
We invite applications from creative and enthusiastic individuals interested in joining Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian’s group for a 4-year PhD studentship, working on a multidisciplinary project exploiting both chemistry and biology to explore fundamental mechanisms of genome function (see: http://www.balasubramanian.co.uk). Students in the group work on one of our primary research goals. The first area is the investigation of the structure and function of DNA (and RNA) secondary structures called G-quadruplexes (G4s). Studies suggest G4s are important for the control of transcription, translation and other key processes in biology and we aim to elucidate their role, with an emphasis on intervention strategies for cancer [e.g. see PNAS, 2024, 12(7), e2320240121; Nature Chemistry, 2021, 13, 626¿633; Trends in Chemistry, 2020, 2:2, 123-136; Nature, 2018, 558, 465].
Application Deadline: 14 November 2024
7. Fully Funded PhD Position in Synthetic Organic Chemistry/ Chemical Biology
Summary of PhD Program:
The project will develop distinct catalyst activation modes that enable the rapid assembly of novel molecular architectures that are directly applicable to fragment-based drug discovery. The project will focus on the development of methods to directly generate synthetically versatile C(sp3)-rich polar scaffolds and seek to assess representative libraries in preliminary biological screens. In addition to state-of-the-art synthetic chemistry research the project will provide exposure and training in high-throughout experimentation, computational design and medicinal chemistry.
Application Deadline: 1 December 2024
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8. Fully Funded PhD Position in Synthetic Organic Chemistry/ Chemical Biology
Summary of PhD Program:
The project will combine the advances in Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) with antisense oligonucleotides. ADCs have revolutionized targeted cancer therapy by delivering cytotoxic drugs to cancer cells with reduced systemic toxicity. Concurrently, oligonucleotide-based therapies, such as antisense oligonucleotides, have expanded the therapeutic landscape, offering novel approaches for modulating gene expression and protein function. Antibody-Oligonucleotide Conjugates (AOCs) combine the specificity of antibodies with the gene-modulating capabilities of oligonucleotides. This research aims to develop a novel method for conjugating oligonucleotides to antibodies, utilizing divinylpyridine motifs. The project will involve both organic synthesis and chemical biology skills.
Application Deadline: 3 December 2024
9. Fully Funded PhD Position in Redox Chemistries in Microorganisms
Summary of PhD Program:
The student will employ a number of chemical biology and biophysical approaches (including (bio)electrochemistry, microscopy, NMR spectrocopy) to probe into the extracellular space, and simple synthetic chemistries (both molecular and sol-gel based) to manipulate it. The student will also be expected to work in multi-disciplinary teams; they may work closely with chemists, biologists, physicists and engineers to deliver final proof-of-concept systems.
Application Deadline: 3 December 2024
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10. Fully Funded PhD Position in Bioelectrode Design
Summary of PhD Program:
A 3.5 year PhD studentship is available from October 2025 to join Dr Jenny Zhang’s team at the Department of Chemistry on a project aimed at accelerating 3-D bioelectrode design. The student will employ a number of electrode fabrication approaches, including additive manufacturing and templated methods, to aid the developent of 3-D electrodes. This work will build on previous studies in the Zhang group (doi: 10.1038/s41563-022-01205-5). The student will also be expected to carry out in-depth electrode characterisation, using techniques including electrochemistry and electron microscopy. They will be expected to work in multi-disciplinary teams, in particular working closely with biologists to test the output of the electrodes.
Application Deadline: 3 December 2024
11. Fully Funded PhD Position in Iron-Catalysed C-N Bond Formation
Summary of PhD Program:
A 4-year PhD studentship funded by AstraZeneca is available from October 2025 with Dr Ruth Webster that will focus on a unique dual C-O bond cleavage/C-N bond forming reaction. The project will build upon preliminary results from the Webster Group (JACS, 2024, 146, 19839), and will cover synthetic methodology and studies of reaction mechanism. Research in the Webster group typically involves organic and inorganic synthesis, reaction mechanistic studies (e.g. using in situ NMR monitoring) supported through collaborative studies with experts in EPR spectroscopy and density functional theory.
Application Deadline: 3 December 2024
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12. Fully Funded PhD Position in Data-driven mechanics
Summary of PhD Program:
Mechanical properties of materials are usually measured by simple one-dimensional tests. The growing field of data-driven mechanics requires development of experimental methods to obtain large quantities of multi-axial data from a single test. To complement this data is the requirement to develop computational methods that can deal with the inevitable measurement noise. We are starting a new project with the aim to use: (i) lab-based flux enhanced tomography for full field measurement of deformation fields and X-ray diffraction measurements of elastic strains, and (ii) associated data-driven material model discovery techniques.
Application Deadline: 15 November 2024
13. Fully Funded PhD Position in RNA Stability in Mammalian Development
Summary of PhD Program:
Early mammalian development is underpinned by a series of cell state transitions as multiple lineages form with distinct transcriptional programmes. There is accumulating evidence that post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms play a key role in these developmental transitions. Currently this is an understudied facet of developmental biology, but several publications have reported embryonic lethality with an embryonic or placental phenotype in mice where an RNA binding protein or decay factor has been knocked out. However, detailed phenotyping and in-depth molecular analysis is lacking in most of these examples.
Application Deadline: 22 November 2024
14. Fully Funded PhD Position in Health Professionals
Summary of PhD Program:
The Universities of Cambridge and East Anglia, together with the Wellcome Sanger Institute, invite applications for up to 7 fellowships in the PhD Programme for Health Professionals, to be taken up by the end of 2025. The fellowships provide funding for clinical salary, University Composition Fees and research consumables for 3 years. Prior to commencement, the Programme can provide up to three months of additional salary support, enabling successful applicants to experience research in different groups, before making an informed choice of project and supervisor.
Application Deadline: 5 November 2024
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15. Fully Funded PhD Position in Interdisciplinary Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (NanoDTC)
Summary of PhD Program:
A particular emphasis of this programme is exposure of students to a broad range of world-class research environments to allow them to discover their individual research and technology interests and develop strong ownership of their PhD topic. As a student of the programme, you will have the opportunity to shape your PhD project, drawing from cutting-edge research being conducted across various departments in the university. Examples of projects being done by our current students are available here.
Application Deadline: 3 January 2025
16. Fully Funded PhD Position in digital discovery for reticular materials
Summary of PhD Program:
Applications are invited for a 3.5-year PhD studentship at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Prof. Markus Kraft as part of the Computational Modelling Group. We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic individual who can think independently and collaborate effectively as part of a dynamic, multidisciplinary team. The ability to design and predict the existence of materials with properties tailored for specific applications is an important technology with many applications in the energy transition and health care. The successful candidate will join a multi-disciplinary team developing methods for the digital discovery of reticular materials. This is a class of materials with highly structured frameworks formed by linking molecular building blocks into networks with customisable properties.
Application Deadline: 3 December 2024
17. Fully Funded PhD Position in Cancer Biology
Summary of PhD Program:
Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Cambridge Centre has a fully-funded innovative MRes + PhD programme, designed to give postgraduate students a broad understanding of both the basic biology and the clinical management of the whole spectrum of cancer. This course also allows students to develop their own skills in experimental science as well as in project design and management. The CRUK Cambridge Centre is a dynamic collaboration of academic researchers, clinicians, and the pharmaceutical and biotech industries based in the Cambridge area. By being part of the Centre, students will have the opportunity to attend a number of lecture series, workshops and meetings aimed at facilitating and strengthening collaborations between complimentary disciplines and across different departments and institutes.
Application Deadline: 19 November 2024
18. Fully Funded PhD Position in Mapping DNA damage and genome replication in malaria parasites with artificial intelligence and long-read sequencing
Summary of PhD Program:
Applications are invited for a fully-funded 4-year PhD studentship based in the Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Dr Michael Boemo starting October 2025. Malaria parasites replicate their genomes very differently to human cells, making genome replication an attractive therapeutic target for antimalarial drugs. The purpose of this research is to develop artificial intelligence software that leverages the power of long-read DNA sequencing to determine the genomic loci of DNA damage caused by these drugs and how this damage changes the movement of replication forks throughout the genome.
Application Deadline: 3 January 2025
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19. Fully Funded PhD Position in Cancer Research
Summary of PhD Program:
A fully funded PhD scholarship is available in Adam Wilkinson’s lab at the University of Cambridge Department of Haematology and Cambridge Stem Cell Institute (CSCI) to begin in October 2025. Dr Wilkinson has won significant long term funding from the Wellcome Trust and Krishnan-Ang Foundation and is relocating his lab to CSCI from Oxford. Dr Wilkinson’s research focusses on expanding and manipulating haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) ex vivo. He has pioneered highly influential new methods to expand transplantable HSCs long-term ex vivo (Wilkinson et al, Nature, 2019; Igarashi et al, Blood Advances, 2023; Sakurai et al, Nature, 2023; Bozhilov et al, bioRxiv, 2024) which are now in use worldwide.
Application Deadline: 20 November 2024
20. Fully Funded PhD Position in Identifying novel anti-malarial transmission blocking vaccine targets on the parasitic zygote
Summary of PhD Program:
Applications are invited for a fully-funded 4-year PhD studentship based in the Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Dr Andrew Blagborough starting October 2025. Malaria, caused by Plasmodium parasites and transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes, remains a devastating infectious disease. Within the mosquito, the malaria parasite undergoes a complex and delicate lifecycle that can be successfully targeted using transmission blocking vaccines (TBVs). The most promising lifecycle stages to target with TBVs is the parasitic ookinete, a motile zygote that is essential for transmission.
Application Deadline: 3 January 2025
21. Fully Funded PhD Position in Hydrogenation of algal lipids to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs)
Summary of PhD Program:
The conversion pathways for algae lipids to HEFA-SPK will be investigated experimentally, developing a novel, algae-specific bifunctional catalyst for hydrogenation reactions. The overarching ambition of this project is to characterise the algae lipid-to-HEFA conversion process and understand the catalytic mechanisms that promote the production of SPK-desired C9-C15 alkanes from algal feedstocks. This will be achieved by analysing high-granularity experimental data obtained for varied feedstock composition/catalyst/support combinations in a single- and two-step process approach. The innovative nature of this research promises to make a significant impact in the field of sustainable aviation fuels.
Application Deadline: 18 November 2024
22. Fully Funded PhD Position
Summary of PhD Program:
Applications are invited for a 4-year PhD studentship based in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (CEB), University of Cambridge and the new AstraZeneca Discovery Centre at Cambridge. The student will be working on a collaborative project jointly supervised by Prof Róisín M. Owens in CEB and Dr Muireann Coen, Oncology Safety, AstraZeneca and will have the opportunity to work across the two sites. The project, entitled “Conformal electronic devices for non-invasive, dynamic monitoring of barrier tissues” spans the fields of bioelectronics, tissue engineering and drug discovery, and has generated much excitement in both academia and industry.
Application Deadline: 18 November 2024
23. Fully Funded PhD Position in Macrophage-induced cytokines and cell cycle state in cancer and inflammatory diseases
Summary of PhD Program:
Applications are invited for 4-year PhD studentship based in the Department of Medicine and the new AstraZeneca Discovery Centre (DISC) at Cambridge. The student will be working on a collaborative project jointly supervised by Prof Ravi Gupta and Dr. Daniele Corridoni at AstraZeneca offering the unique opportunity to work across the two sites, aiming to train independent, innovative scientists capable of pursuing translational research. The project, entitled Macrophage-induced cytokines and cell cycle state in cancer and inflammatory diseases. is in the field of macrophages and their role in cancers and inflammatory diseases such as IBD that has generated much excitement in both academia and industry.
Application Deadline: 17 November 2024
24. Fully Funded PhD Position
Summary of PhD Program:
Applications are invited for 4-year PhD studentship based in the Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge and the new AstraZeneca Discovery Centre at Cambridge conducting research into how the microbiome contributes to chronic pain. The project will be jointly supervised by Dr David Bulmer (Cambridge) and Dr Fraser Welsh (AstraZeneca) and will provide the student with an opportunity to work across both sites, in addition to the broader multidisciplinary team of clinicians and academics investigating the microbiome and pain at the University and Medical School.
Application Deadline: 8 November 2024
25. Fully Funded PhD Position
Summary of PhD Program:
The project, entitled “Therapeutic cancer prevention of hereditary cancers”‘ aims to test various therapeutic options to prevent the development of breast cancer in high-risk individuals. More details can be found in the attachments. Candidate We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic individual capable of thinking and working independently. This position offers the unique opportunity to engage with a multidisciplinary team, including computational biologists and experimentalist from University of Cambridge and AstraZeneca. Prior experience with mouse model and/or single cell genomics is welcome.
Application Deadline: 11 November 2024
26. Fully Funded PhD Position in Ion channels and excitability in neuroendocrine cancer
Summary of PhD Program:
Neuroendocrine (NE) cancers include some of the most aggressively invasive and lethal primary cancers, for example, small-cell lung cancer, neuroblastoma and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours, as well as metastatic resistance stages of epithelial cancers such as breast and prostate. Neuroendocrine cancer cells, like neurons, are electrically excitable, generating action potentials, which trigger vesicular secretion. The aim of this project is to understand the mechanisms of this electrical signalling, and how ion channels might be targeted to inhibit the metabolism, proliferation and invasion of these types of cancer cells.
Application Deadline: 11 November 2024
27. Fully Funded PhD Position in A reproducible human lung organoid platform for large scale oncology CRISPR screens
Summary of PhD Program:
Lung cancer is heterogeneous. Variability between-patients, -tumours and within-tumours all affect drug efficacy and resistance. To identify and validate oncology drug targets we need human-relevant models capturing patient heterogeneity. Human lung organoids show promise for modelling the tumour micro-environment. However, cancer organoids do not grow reliably. We will distinguish between real-life heterogeneity which affects disease progression and technical artefact. We hypothesize that effects of cancer driver mutations are conserved across different genetic backgrounds (i.e. organoid variability represents real-life cancer heterogeneity) and will test this using genetic engineering to develop human lung adenocarcinoma from multiple normal biological donors.
