Industry sponsored PhD University of Nottingham

Hydrophilic matrices are prolonged-release tablets. They are used worldwide within the pharmaceutical industry to design new types of medicines. They are easy to manufacture, and simple to design - you simply include a water-swelling polymer into a normal tablet formulation – but their drug release processes are complex, and the mechanisms by which other ingredients and the stomach environment influences their behaviour, is not well understood.

In this project you will be designing new types of matrices for new medical conditions, and discovering what happens inside the matrix as it releases drug. We will compare the industry standard polymer, HPMC, with another food polymer to investigate if we can control the sometimes unpredictable changes that occur in the matrix in response to their external environment. Experimental work will be done in the lab - there is no animal or human testing involved - and work will include using our novel imaging developed in the group.The project is with a major pharmaceutical company so you’ll have interactions with scientists of the industrial sponsor and their labs. The training and insight in this key technology that you will gain from this PhD, will give you a competitive advantage when applying for a career in the pharmaceutical industry, or related companies. A degree in pharmacy, material science, food science, polymer science, chemistry or chemical engineering would be useful, and industrial experience an advantage, but not essential. The project is only available to EU/UK graduates.
Funding information

Funding applies to:
EU applicants (including UK)

Contacts and how to apply

Academic contact:

For more details contact: Dr Colin Melia , Associate Professor, +44 (0)115-9515032 (direct)
colin.melia@nottingham.ac.uk
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/Pharmacy/People/colin.melia
Administrative contact and how to apply:

To apply contact:
Mrs C MacLeod Christina.Macleod@nottingham.ac.uk

Phd- Student Fungal Biology, Netherland phd mechanical engineering

The PhD student will work on a project that aims to understand and manipulate substrate utilisation by the mushroom producing fungus Agaricus bisporus. The emphasis of the project will be on gene expression and regulation, enzyme production and identification, and physiology. Experience in at least one of those disciplines is required as well as a high level of motivation and good teamworking skills.

Description

The Fungal Biodiversity Centre (CBS) is an independent research institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, situated on the campus of the largest university in the Netherlands (Utrecht). It studies fungal biodiversity in the widest sense, focusing on three priority areas, agriculture, human health, and industry (indoor air and food). Presently there are 5 research groups with a total of about 80 employees. The institute maintains a large culture collection of fungi and yeasts, and research groups such as those of Pedro Crous (Evolutionary Phytopathology), Robert Samson (Applied and Industrial Mycology), Sybren de Hoog (Origins of Pathogenicity in Clinical Fungi), Teun Boekhout (Yeast and Basidiomycete Research), Ronald de Vries (Fungal Physiology) and Vincent Robert (Bioinformatics). Additional information is available on our website: www.cbs.knaw.nl.

The CBS invites applications for:
Phd- Student, full time (38 hours/week) to work on:

How mushrooms feed on sugars: Analysing the molecular mechanism behind gene expression and enzyme production related to utilisation of polysaccharides

Description of the project:
The white button mushroom Agaricus bisporus is produced and consumed at large scale. It is low in fat and rich in protein and fibre. Moreover, it contains vitamins, minerals and bioactive compounds such as anti-cancer polysaccharides. The white button mushroom is produced on compost made of straw and horse manure. The process of composting and growth of the white button mushroom is a near black box. For instance, it is not known which sugar components are converted (and which are not) and when this takes place in the process.
The aim of this project is to understand and improve the degradation of the sugars in the substrate during composting and growth of the white button mushroom. This will be done by analysis of the genome of the white button mushroom and its activity, and identification of enzymes that are involved in substrate degradation during composting and growth of Agaricus bisporus. Within the project, the PhD student will in particular focus on genome annotation and analysis of gene expression and enzyme activity during different stages of the lifecycle of agaricus.

Requirements: The highly motivated candidate should have an MSc degree, excellent communication and social skills and affinity with fungal physiology. Knowledge of standard molecular laboratory techniques such as gDNA isolation, PCR, cloning and sequencing is required.

Duration: Four years.

Benefits

Salary: According to “CAO-Nederlandse universiteiten” (CAO-NU): € 2.042,- in the first year, increasing to € 2.612,- in the fourth year, excluding 8% holiday allowance and a 8.3 % year-end bonus.

http://www.cbs.knaw.nl/vacancies/73/PhD%20student%20(CBS%202010-09).pdf

CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre

Fungal Physiology – Utrecht
NETHERLANDS
phone +31 302122600
email r.devries@cbs.knaw.nl
www.cbs.knaw.nl

Application Deadline

15/09/2010