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Kuok - Swietach Scholarship in Medical Diagnostics

Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only) Deadline: Tuesday, March 31 2026 - A three-year studentship (stipend starting from £21,819 plus home-level fees fully covered) is available for a highly motivated candidate with a degree in bioengineering, biochemistry, biomedical sciences, or clinical science, and a strong interest in diagnostics, translational research, and global health. At least some experience in developing diagnostic devices is highly desirable.

Fully-funded DPhil studentship in medical diagnostics

FULLY-FUNDED PHD STUDENTSHIP IN MEDICAL DIAGNOSTICS

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Current Vacancies List

Current Vacancies

Pawel Swietach - Cardiovascular, Cell physiology Metabolism & "Urine-on-a-Strip: Point-of-Care Detection of Intravascular Haemolysis"

**Fully funded project** Clinical feasibility study and refinement of a rapid, point-of-care urinary test for detecting intravascular haemolysis

Mehran Ahmadlou - Neuroscience Neural Circuits Underlying Approach-Avoidance Strategies in a Territorial Context'

Survival in territorial environments demands adaptive behaviour, as animals must balance access to resources with the risks of competition and predation. In the wild, animals must recognize when and where resources can be obtained, while simultaneously avoiding predators and navigating social hierarchies. Failures in these underlying circuits can manifest as anxiety-associated disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, impulsivity, anhedonia, depression, or pathological aggression. Understanding how animals adapt—or fail to adapt—in resource-limited, semi-natural contexts can therefore provide critical insight into the neural basis of mental health disorders. In this project, the Neurobehavior Lab, run by Mehran Ahmadlou, will investigate how neural circuits governing approach, avoidance, and defensive aggression support survival in complex environments. Freely moving mice will forage for nutritional resources in a territorial arena, competing with conspecifics for access while adapting to predatory threats. Using a combination of optogenetics, chemogenetics, Neuropixels recording, and miniaturized two-photon imaging, we will dissect how the brain integrates internal states with external challenges to guide adaptive strategy. Particular focus will be given to networks spanning the prefrontal cortex, hypothalamus, and midbrain survival circuits (periaqueductal gray, superior colliculus, and ventral tegmental area). To bridge the neural activity and behaviour, we will employ computational modeling approaches to capture how animals adjust their strategies and how circuit-level perturbations alter these computations. By resolving neural dynamics at the population and single-cell level, and linking them to quantitative models of decision-making, we will uncover how distributed circuits generate flexible territorial behaviours. By mapping the neural basis of behavioural flexibility in territoriality, this work will illuminate how adaptive survival strategies are generated—and how their breakdown drives neuropsychiatric conditions.

Mehran Ahmadlou - Neuroscience - 'The Neuromodulatory Control of Perception'

The Neurobehavior Lab run by Mehran Ahmadlou will, in collaboration with the Bruno lab, investigate how subcortical hubs orchestrate the balance between multiple neuromodulatory systems to shape sensory perception and behavioural responses. Neuromodulators such as acetylcholine, noradrenaline, serotonin, and dopamine exert widespread influence on cortical circuits, dynamically shifting cortical neurodynamics to regulate attention, arousal, and decision-making. However, how different neuromodulatory systems are coordinated by subcortical structures to tune cortical computations during perception remains poorly understood. Using Neuropixels recording, miniaturized two-photon imaging, optogenetics, and chemogenetics in head-fixed and freely moving mice, we will dissect how subcortical neuromodulatory hubs interact with cell-type-specific cortical microcircuits to guide perception under varying sensory and behavioural demands. Computational modelling of cortical dynamics will further link neuromodulatory activity to changes in network states and perceptual outcomes. This work will provide a mechanistic understanding of how neuromodulatory systems collectively sculpt perception and behaviour, and how their dysfunction may contribute to neuropsychiatric conditions such as attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia.

Lisa Heather: Cardiac Sciences/Metabolism & Endocrinology – 'Targeting Metabolism to Protect the Heart in Diabetes'

Diabetes affects 10% of the adult population worldwide, and cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality in people with diabetes. However, we currently don’t understand why diabetes is so detrimental for the heart, and have limited treatment options to treat the heart in diabetes. We need to understand the cellular mechanisms by which diabetes affects cardiomyocyte function, as this will allow us to identify novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of this disease. Type 2 diabetes is primarily a metabolic disease, characterised by increased blood glucose and fatty acids. Cardiac metabolism changes early on in the development of diabetes, and this has been shown to contribute to the development of diabetic heart disease. However, we currently don’t fully understand the mechanisms that link metabolic dysfunction to cellular dysfunction in the heart, and studies are needed to unpick the signalling pathways directly regulated by abnormal metabolism. In addition, the metabolic origin of the diabetes complications makes metabolic therapy an attractive target to improve function in the diabetic heart. Work in the Heather group focuses on understanding the role of metabolism in the development of cardiovascular disease in diabetes, and investigating the potential for reversing this therapeutically. In this project the candidate will use pre-clinical and cell models of type 2 diabetes, along with metabolic tracers, mitochondrial respirometry, molecular biology and bioinformatics techniques to investigate the critical role for metabolism in diabetes.

Molly Stevens - Bionanoscience 'Development of biocompatible micro and nanoparticles for the delivery of vaccines'

The Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford, is committed to finding solutions to counteract future pandemic threats through science, innovation and building systems of global preparedness. This DPhil project is a collaboration between two PSI research groups led by Professor Dame Molly Stevens and Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert working towards novel delivery mechanisms for vaccines. Professor Molly Stevens’ team is interested in applying innovative bioengineering approaches and designer biomaterials to address some of the major healthcare challenges across diagnostics, advanced therapeutics and regenerative medicine. Professor Sarah Gilbert leads a research team generating vaccines against emerging pathogens, developing technology for the rapid transfer of vaccines into GMP manufacturing and assessing novel vaccine delivery mechanisms. This DPhil project represents an exciting opportunity to build on the current and innovative research programmes from these two research groups with the aim of developing new biomaterials and micro and nanoparticles for the delivery of vaccines through various routes of administration. The successful candidate will have full access to state-of-the-art laboratories in the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Discovery within Prof. Molly Stevens’ laboratory.

Molly Stevens - Bionanoscience 'Engineered Organoid Co-Cultures to Advance Vaccine Delivery'

Despite significant advances in vaccine development, only a handful of vaccines have been approved for respiratory delivery. Although the mucosal barrier poses significant delivery challenges, it is hypothesised that intranasal or aerosolised vaccines could lead to better local protection and superior long-term protection compared with other delivery methods. While novel formulations can be tested in animal models and in vitro models, we still struggle to understand mechanistically the factors which make a respiratory mucosal vaccine successful. Work within the Stevens group has focussed on novel formulations for synthetic vaccines (LNP or polyplexes), as well as controlled drug delivery platforms such as pulsatile microparticles, capable of releasing therapeutics (i.e. small molecule, protein, nanoparticles) at pre-determined time points and polymer formulations which allow for long term, sustained drug release over 180 days. The Provine group has shown that lymphoid organoids derived from human tonsils can be used as an in vitro system to study vaccine responses, demonstrating the ability to model vaccine responses to adenoviral vector vaccines. In complementary systems, the Pollock group has demonstrated that human lymph node samples are technologically advanced models for the assessment of adaptive immune responses post vaccination. Meanwhile, the Lambe group has developed mucosal organoid systems which act as ideal models to assess the efficiency of vaccines delivered to respiratory sites like the nose and lung. These organoid systems are designed to mimic the complex physiological interactions between the lung, the primary site of infection for respiratory pathogens, and the lymphatic system, where the immune responses is initiated, however, in their current usage do so in isolation. In this project, we aim to develop and understand the interactions between lymphoid organoids and mucosal organoids as a semi-reductionist model of infection and immune response for vaccine development. We aim to use these models to assess how pulsatile or long-term exposure to a vaccine formulation influences the humoral response in lymphoid organoids, and how these two delivery mechanisms change uptake and or response in mucosal organoids.

Mehran Ahmadlou - Neuroscience 'Neural Mechanisms of Behavioural Strategies under Expected and Unexpected Uncertainty'

Adaptive behaviour relies on the brain’s ability to navigate uncertainty. Not all uncertainty is the same: it can be expected or unexpected. Expected uncertainty arises from known variability in outcomes within a stable environment. This variability can relate to timing, effort, value, or probability of outcomes. For example, rolling a die always produces a number between 1 and 6, or a vending machine may dispense snacks according to a fixed probability. Here, uncertainty stems from the range of possible outcomes, but the underlying rules remain consistent. In contrast, unexpected uncertainty emerges from sudden, unpredictable changes that violate previously learned rules—so-called structural knowledge of the environment. Examples include a traffic pattern shifting when a road closes without notice, a restaurant unexpectedly changing its menu, or a software update that radically alters a familiar interface. Unlike expected uncertainty, unexpected uncertainty reflects a change in the environment itself, invalidating prior expectations and requiring rapid behavioural adaptation. Differentiating these two types of uncertainty is critical for understanding learning, decision-making, and behavioural flexibility. By studying how the brain responds to expected versus unexpected uncertainty, we can uncover the neural mechanisms that support adaptive strategies in dynamic environments. The Neurobehavior Lab has developed a task in which freely moving mice and humans build structural knowledge of their environment while also experiencing unexpected uncertainty. This framework allows us to model and explain behavioural variability in how strategies are chosen under each form of uncertainty. To uncover the underlying neural mechanisms, we will combine advanced methods in freely moving mice—including miniaturized two-photon microscopy, Neuropixels recordings, fibre photometry, and targeted manipulations with optogenetics and chemogenetics. In collaboration with other groups, the project may also expand to explore the corresponding neural mechanisms in humans.