Understanding and control of electric communication in bacteria colonies, using machine learning
Project Description Although initial discussions regarding bioelectricity and its role in the fundamental understanding of various cellular behaviours took place in the 1970s, the bioelectrical view of cells as a more general concept has remained limited to the fringes of biological research for five decades. Recent studies in diverse systems have shown that bioelectrical signals […]
Unravelling the structure and conformational dynamics of membrane proteins using H/D-exchange mass spectrometry and cryo-EM
Project Description A dynamic studentship which includes experience working in both academic and pharmaceutical industry environments: the project is performed in partnership between laboratories at both King’s College London and UCB Pharma (Slough, 20 miles West of Central London). The ideal candidate will enjoy creative and multidisciplinary approaches to answering questions. The objective of the […]
Applications of light induced Electron Paramagnetic Resonance to biological systems from structure determination towards biological quantum gates
Project Description Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) is a fast-growing technique with applications in diverse fields including structural biology and quantum information processing. It is used to study systems containing unpaired electrons, analogous to NMR. Understanding the structure of a biological system, or changes under different perturbations, is important for determining functionality. Pulsed dipolar EPR can […]
How do prenatal steroids elevate autism likelihood?
Project Description The causes of autism remain unknown. Some literature has showed a link between higher levels of steroid hormones such as testosterone in the womb and autism in children, particularly males. Most of this work has been carried out in human subjects using amniotic fluid retrospectively and it is inferred that in many cases […]
New materials for solar cells
Project Description We have a vacancy for a PhD student to work on the synthesis and characterisation of new materials for solar cells. Hybrid lead halide perovskites are attracting considerable interest due to their potential as photovoltaic materials for solar cells with very high efficiencies. However, these materials contain toxic lead and degrade rapidly, and […]
PhD Studentship: Assessing High Latitude Atmosphere-Ionophere Coupling: Ionospheric Impacts of SSWs at High Latitudes
Project Description Sudden Stratospheric Warmings (SSWs) are severe climatic events in the upper atmosphere, where the accumulated effect of planetary wave breaking results in a weakening of the stratospheric polar vortex, sometimes resulting in a reversal of the stratospheric zonal wind. These sudden changes to the stratospheric environment drastically modify the nature of coupling between […]
Materials for thermoelectric energy recovery
Project Description We have a vacancy for a PhD student to work on the synthesis and characterisation of inorganic materials for energy applications. The project will investigate new thermoelectric materials, which can be used in devices for the direct conversion of heat into electrical power. A particularly attractive application of thermoelectric devices is in the […]
Unusual properties of New Inorganic Framework Materials
Project Description We have a vacancy for a PhD student to synthesise and characterize new materials with open-framework structures, such metal phosphates, transition-metal cyanides or metal-organic compounds. The thermal behaviour of these materials will be investigated as many exhibit ‘negative thermal expansion’ – a curious property in which the structures shrink as temperature increases. In […]
Self-assembling Functional Peptides for Biomedical Applications
Project Description Designed short peptides can self-assemble into different nanostructures (such as nanovesicles and nanofibrils) through weak interactions and have a variety of applications. This PhD project will investigate the self-assembly of different carefully designed short peptides, understand the self-assembly mechanism and explore their potential applications in antimicrobial, anticancer, drug/gene delivery and as scaffolds for […]
Microfluidic fabrication of nanoparticles/liposomes for drug delivery
Project Description Microfluidic devices offer precise control of mixing multiple fluids in microscale, enabling fabrication of advanced micro/nanoparticles/liposomes with tunable structures and compositions in a high throughput and repeatable manner. The combination of these remarkable features with carefully selected materials and fabrication conditions enable high efficiency, direct encapsulation of actives in particles/liposomes with well controlled […]
