United Kingdom & USA – NIH funded PhD Studentship in Chemistry / Biomedical Engineering

PhD Studentship funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), USA
School of Science and Technology

The studentship offers a bursary of £12,000 (tax free) per annum for three years, commencing in October 2007, and Home/ EU student fees.

Post No: S0655

A PhD studentship is available within a collaborative project involving Chemistry at Nottingham Trent University and Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University, Boston, to develop silica based composite materials for dental repair using spider silk-diatom protein fusion proteins. The Kaplan group are preparing genetic constructs based on spider drag-line silk (for strength) and sequences that will promote the formation of a silica mineral phase. The Perry group will be focussing on studies of composite formation in the presence of these fusions utilising a range of silicon precursors and a range of analytical techniques to study chemical processes leading to the formation of the composite materials. The aim is to identify the effect of the precursors and the reaction conditions on the structure, properties and processing of the materials being developed as this will impact on their usability in real life.

The appointed student will work closely with a postdoctoral worker in the Perry team as well as with staff and students at Tufts University in Boston. By the end of the PhD programme, the student will gain an understanding of the principles underpinning the methodologies for analysis of silica formation and will specifically be involved in factorial design studies to optimize the kinetics of silica formation (modelling the various environments that might be encountered in vivo) in relation to morphology and mechanical properties. They will also gain an appreciation of the biochemistry and molecular biology involved in producing the fusion proteins.

The PhD studentship would suit a highly motivated person with interest in chemistry, materials science, and their application in the biomedical field. They may be required to spend a period at Tufts University in Boston and must be available to travel abroad if required.

Entry requirement: a first class or upper second class UK Honours degree (or equivalent) in a physical science discipline. The minimum English language proficiency requirement is IELTS 6.5 or TOEFL 550/CBTOEFL 220 for candidates who have not undertaken a higher degree or equivalent in the UK.

The studentship offers a bursary of £12,000 (tax free) per annum for three years, commencing in October 2007, and Home/ EU student fees. Applications from students of other nationalities are welcome but students will have to show that they are able to pay the difference between home/EU fees and overseas fees (the difference is currently £6,300 per annum) for each of the three years of the PhD programme.

For further information on the project, please check out the following publications:

• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2006) volume 103, pages 9375-9746;
• highlighted in Nature (2006) volume 441, page 821;
• Chemical and Engineering News (June 19th 2006), volume 84, page 22;
• New Scientist (June 12th 2006) ‘genetic tweak boosts stiffness of spider silk’;
• Scientific American (June 14th 2006) ‘new nanomaterial fuses spider silk and silica’;
• Physics Web (13th June 2006) ‘New look for nanocomposites’.

  For informal enquiries please visit the group web pages on www.angelfinre.com/blues2/inorganic/ or contact Professor Carole C. Perry, Academic Team Leader in Chemistry via email; carole.perry@ntu.ac.uk or on: +44 (0) 115 848 6695.

  For an application form, please contact:
  The Research and Graduate Studies Office
  Erasmus Darwin Building
  Nottingham Trent University
  Clifton Lane
  Nottingham
  NG11 8NS
  UK.
  Email: sat.research@ntu.ac.uk
  Telephone: +44 (0)115 848 3269, Fax: +44 (0)115 848 6616

  Or go to http://www.ntu.ac.uk/research/graduate_school/index.html

  Candidates must send a completed application form, which must include a statement about why they are applying for the post and how they meet the essential qualifications, with copies of academic certificates, to the above address by post, fax or email by Friday 14th September 2007.

  Interviews will be held shortly after the closing date.
  Application by CV only will not be accepted

Please kindly mention GetScholarship.net when replying to this position

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 9:01 am and is filed under USA Scholarships, United Kingdom Scholarships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.