PhD Studentship in Biological Mass Spectrometry

Funding Amount: £19,237 for the 2024/25 academic year

PhD Studentship in Biological Mass Spectrometry

Project title:  Developing the next generation of MALDI mass spectrometry.

Department/School: Department of Chemistry / School of Chemistry, Food & Pharmacy

Supervisors:  Prof Rainer Cramer

Project Overview:   This project aims to make step changes in mass spectrometry (MS) by combining the advantages of MALDI with those of electrospray ionisation (ESI), which are the two main ionisation techniques in biological MS.  Earlier UKRI- and industry-funded research successes led to the new technique of liquid atmospheric pressure (LAP)-MALDI, which will be at the heart of this project.  LAP-MALDI provides an extremely robust ion signal, is fast (up to 50 samples/sec) and provides ESI-like ion signals, thus enabling the use of the latest and most powerful mass spectrometers.  Already shown to be extremely useful in identifying bacterial pathogens of infectious diseases as well as veterinary disease analysis, these advantages will now be further exploited in areas beyond clinical and veterinary diagnostics.

This project will further develop LAP-MALDI MS at both the fundamental level (including improvements to its sensitivity and data analysis) and its applications in food authenticity and speciation in areas like archaeology and forensics, exploiting is exquisite capability in biotyping crude samples by detecting a vast range of biomolecules from metabolites and lipids to peptides and proteins, thus making it highly specific for biotyping analysis.

You will learn how to develop new methods and techniques in MS and how to become an expert in MS data acquisition and analysis using high-performance mass spectrometers with the latest technology in MALDI MS in an environment highly relevant to the challenges in modern biotechnology, diagnostics and food security as well as modern archaeology and forensics.  Further optimisation of the LAP-MALDI ion source and its off-line coupling to other preparative techniques will be investigated with the objective to find the ultimate sensitivity and speed for integrated workflows as needed in biotyping analyses or large-scale (bio)assaying of thousands of samples per day.

The project is partially supported by external partners, providing support throughout the project and further insight in non-academic R&D.

Eligibility: 

• Applicants should hold or expect to gain a minimum of a 2:1 Bachelor Degree or equivalent in the Physical or Life Sciences.
• Due to restrictions on the funding this studentship is open to UK applicants.

Funding Details:   

• Starts September/October 2024
• 3-year award
• Funding covers full tuition fees plus UKRI stipend

How to apply:  

To apply click “Apply for a Programme”, create your account, and use the link sent by email to start the application process.   During the application process please select the PhD in Chemistry.

*Important notes*

• 1) Please quote the reference ‘DRC24-008’ in the ‘Scholarships applied for’ box which appears within the Funding Section of your on-line application.
• 2) If the application system prompts you to submit a research proposal, please paste in the project title and move on to the next step in the application.

Application Deadline:  31 May 2024

Further Enquiries:  

Please note that, where a candidate is successful in being awarded funding, this will be confirmed via a formal studentship award letter; this will be provided separately from any Offer of Admission and will be subject to standard checks for eligibility and other criteria.

For further details please contact Isaac Wilks (i.m.j.wilks@reading.ac.uk).

For further project-specific details please contact Prof R. Cramer, Chemistry, University of Reading.

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