Fully funded PhD Positions in Cancer Research #META-CHIP

19 Feb 2024
Job Information

Organisation/Company

University College Dublin

Department

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Research Field

Engineering » Biomedical engineering

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country

Ireland

Application Deadline

30 Apr 2024 - 23:59 (Europe/Dublin)

Type of Contract

Temporary

Job Status

Full-time

Hours Per Week

40

Offer Starting Date

1 Sep 2024

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

HE / ERC

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

Osteosarcoma is a highly aggressive bone cancer largely affecting children. Treatment is often radical and debilitating, and despite the clinical urgency for newer more effective therapies, there has been no change in treatment options since the introduction of chemotherapy in the 1970s. As result the current 5-year survival rate in aggressive forms of osteosarcoma is still below 20%. Accelerating cures for those poor outcome patients remains a challenge and this in part is due to a lack of accurate osteosarcoma preclinical models. Traditionally, two dimensional (2D) cell culture and animals have been used as primary cancer drug development models. Although 2D cell culture is relatively easy to perform, it fails to mimic the 3D complexity of the primary tumour microenvironment. On the other hand, animal models for drug testing are labour and time intensive, costly, and most significantly, often yield untranslatable results due to the physiological differences between humans and animals, with estimated drug failure rates as high as 90%. Despite this, animal models remain the main pre-clinical model for validating potential drug candidates for osteosarcoma patients. Organ-on-a-chip technologies using patient-specific cells, represent a promising alternative as they allow for controllable cell culture within an organotypic microarchitectural environment, providing a simple yet more physiologically relevant platform for drug screening than traditional cell culture/animal models. Specifically, for rare paediatric diseases like osteosarcoma where full clinical trials are challenging, they provide a repeatable, cost-effective, medium-throughput alternative for drug screening. This emerging field hit a major milestone in December 2022, when the US Congress approved the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 allowing the use of organon-chip data for drug discovery instead of animal models. This clearly indicates the immense potential organ-on-chip devices will have in the future for treating rare diseases like osteosarcoma, further emphasising the distinct critical need for the development of the proposed device. This project aims to develop a human systemic lung metastasis-on-a-chip model for osteosarcoma. Once developed, META-CHIP can be incorporated into the drug development pipeline from early drug discovery to preclinical screening, testing, and translation of new drugs for bone cancers, bridging the gap between animal studies and human clinical trials. As part of the PhD programme, you will receive training in organoid culture, hydrogel synthesis, 3D bioprinting, organ-on-chip design, advanced microscopy, and molecular biology analysis.

Requirements

Research Field

Engineering » Biomedical engineering

Education Level

Master Degree or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications: A Master’s Degree (or equivalent) in Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Molecular Bioengineering, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Biomedical Sciences or a closely related area. Candidates should enjoy working as part of a team and have a keen interest in biomedical device design.

Specific Requirements

About the research team: Dr Fiona Freeman is an Ad Astra Fellow, a Conway Fellow, a funded investigator in the SFI Research Centre in Curam and Advanced Materials and Bioengineering Research, and a PI within UCD Centre for Biomedical Engineering and Trinity Centre for Bioengineering. Dr. Freeman leads a multidisciplinary research group investigating the use of innovative biomedical engineering techniques to better understand and develop novel therapeutics to treat paediatric bone cancer, Osteosarcoma. For more information, please see www.ucd.ie/freemanlab/ .

Languages

ENGLISH

Level

Excellent

Research Field

Engineering

Additional Information
Benefits

Two four-year PhD studentships are funded by European Research Council Starting Grant (#META-CHIP). These studentships include full tuition, a PhD stipend of €25,000 per annum (tax free), and a research budget to cover research costs associated with the project. Students will be enrolled onto UCD’s structured PhD programme which includes some taught elements and transferrable skills training providing an excellent foundation for a research career (www.ucd.ie/graduatestudies/researchstudenthub/researchprogrammes/ )

Eligibility criteria

Minimum Qualifications: A Master’s Degree (or equivalent) in Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Molecular Bioengineering, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Biomedical Sciences or a closely related area. Candidates should enjoy working as part of a team and have a keen interest in biomedical device design.

Selection process

For further information and to apply please email Dr Freeman (she/her) at [email protected] . Applicants should submit the following as a single pdf document: 1. A cover letter outlining their interest in the project any relevant experience and their future goals. 2. A detailed CV (including a list of any publications if applicable). 3. The names and contact details of two academic referees. Interviews will take place in May 2024 via video calls. The candidate should be in a position to start their PhD by September 2024.

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

UCD School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Country

Ireland

State/Province

Dublin

City

Dublin

Street

Belfield

Geofield

Where to apply

E-mail

[email protected]

Contact

State/Province

Draft

City

Dublin

Website

http://www.ucd.ie/eleceng

Street

Belfield

Postal Code

D04 V1W8

E-Mail

[email protected]

Phone

017161806

STATUS: EXPIRED