PhD Studentship: Novel Shape Memory Polymers For The Delivery of Sensor Systems

The Healthcare Technologies Institute brings together leading experts from a variety of disciplines across the University of Birmingham, including chemical engineering, biomedical science, computer science, applied mathematics, chemistry and physics. Researchers across campus are working collaboratively to speed up the translation of new discoveries into health applications.

The routine deployment of many sensor technologies in the human body will be heavily reliant on us developing methods of minimally invasive delivery that do not compromise the final sensor function and reliability. This project will seek to develop a shape memory polymeric sensor system that is tightly coiled at room (or just below) temperature and will flatten out when placed into a physiological environment. This conformational change will enable the deployment of the sensor system using minimally invasive methods. Ideally, the material will be formed using a combination of polymers that have been shown to allow for shape-memory programming (poly(caprolactone), poly(urethane)), with an established record of safety in the human body. This will allow us to accelerate rapidly toward human application.

The project will be multidisciplinary in nature, combining materials science/chemistry and biological characterisation. We are seeking PhD students who are trained in either material science or chemistry. They will receive training in the laboratory to enable their transformation into a multidisciplinary scientist.

This PhD project will commence in January 2023, please direct all questions and applications to [email protected]