Start Date: October 2015.

Supervisor: Dr Wafa Al-Jamal, w.al-jamal@uea.ac.uk

The Project:

An important limitation in the treatment of cancer with chemotherapeutics is the inability to achieve therapeutically effective local drug concentrations avoiding healthy tissue damage.  Liposomes are phospholipid-based delivery systems, clinically used for the transport of chemotherapeutics. The clinical use of phosholipid based delivery systems is based on reduced toxicity to normal tissues with a simultaneous increase in tumour accumulation. However, accumulation of drug-loaded liposomes in the tumour tissue does not necessarily lead to a higher drug bioavailability.

The project focuses on designing smart nanosystems for imaging and targeted drug delivery for cancer therapy. The scientific approach of this project is to fabricate new type of responsive drug delivery systems, based on liposome-nanoparticle hybrids.  The developed multifunctional nanoparticles will be characterised and their biological activity in vitro and in vivo will be evaluated. This highly interdisciplinary project combines expertise in chemistry, biophysics, and biology and will provide a unique opportunity for excellent students to work in a stimulating multidisciplinary teams.

The successful candidate: will be a highly motivated, hard-working graduate holding a good honours degree in chemistry, pharmacy or material sciences, ideally at Masters level and with some experience of qualitative research. The candidate will have excellent communication and organisational skills; previous experiences with nanoparticles or drug delivery will be welcome.  Sound knowledge in analytical techniques for the characterization of nanomaterials will be an advantage.

Entry Requirements:

Applicants should have a minimum of a 2.1 degree in Pharmacy, Chemistry, Biological Sciences.

Funding:
This PhD project is offered on a self-funding basis. It is open to applicants with funding or those applying to funding sources.  Details of tuition fees can be found athttp://www.uea.ac.uk/pgresearch/pgrfees.

A bench fee is also payable on top of the tuition fee to cover specialist equipment or laboratory costs required for the research.  The amount charged annually will vary considerably depending on the nature of the project and applicants should contact the primary supervisor for further information about the fee associated with the project.