PhD Studentship – Novel Gaseous Organ Biopsy Technology to Predict Organ Status during Preservation at Newcastle University

Award summary

100% of tuition fees paid and annual living expenses of £18,622 (23/24 UKRI rate).

Overview

This is an exciting opportunity to work as part of the National Institutes of Healthcare Research-funded Blood and Transplant Research Unit in Organ Donation and Transplantation (odt.btru.nihr.ac.uk) in partnership with industry (www.scubatx.com).

Transplantation is the only treatment for many suffering end-stage organ failure. Unfortunately, demand far out-strips supply of suitable donor-organs. Time and logistics are limiting factors and many donated organs cannot be used. ScubaTx harnesses a proven, but under-utilised, preservation technique (persufflation), delivered in a portable, simple, automated, multi-organ, affordable format that will enable widespread deployment across healthcare systems world-wide.

As the transplant team review organs prior to transplant, it is important to have a clear understanding of organ-health. Presently, use of gas, restricts organ-health assessment to physiological parameters during persufflation. This project will work to develop novel gaseous biomarkers building on ScubaTx patent filings.

The presence of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) in exhaled gas has been shown to detect conditions, such as asthma. This project will monitor gas exiting organs during persufflation to identify prognostic VOC signatures indicative of damage. These will be combined with real-time physiological data to assess health during persufflation. Following persufflation, organs will be assessed leveraging traditional methodologies, including protein/gene expression, histology, etc. Identification of key VOCs may lead to improved understanding of damage during the peri-transplant period deepening mechanistic understanding.

Number of awards: 1

Start date: 19/09/2023

Award duration: 3 years

Sponsor:

Supervisors

Eligibility criteria

Highly -motivated individuals with at least a 2:1 honours degree or international equivalent in bio-engineering or biological sciences are encouraged to apply. Applicants whose first language is not English require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each subsection.

How to apply

To apply for a studentship, you must register and apply through the University’s Apply to Newcastle Portal

Once registered select ‘Create a Postgraduate Application’.

Use ‘Course Search’ to identify your programme of study:

• Search the ‘Course Title’ using the programme code: 8440F
• Select ‘PhD Translational and Clinical Research (FT)‘
• The studentship code TC073 in the ‘Studentship Reference’ field
• Select ‘Write Proposal’. Then type in the title of the research project from this advert.
• Submit a CV and covering letter. The letter must state the title of the studentship, quote reference code TC073 and state how your interests and experience relate to the project.

You will not be able to submit your application until you have submitted all required information.

Contact details

Bill Scott
Bill.scott3@ncl.ac.uk