PhD Studentship: Advancing Real-time Detection and Characterisation for Bioaerosols

Start date: February 2025 

Studentship funding

Sponsored by UKRI Expanding Excellence in England (E3) fund this studentship will provide a bursary of up to £19,700 (tax free) plus fees* for three years 

Sponsored by UKRI Expanding Excellence in England (E3) fund  

Type of opportunity 

Fully-funded studentship: Opportunities which are fully funded (e.g. covers all fees and stipend)

Fee status of eligible applicants: UK or UK and International 

Duration of Award if full time preferred*: 3 years

1^st Supervisor: Zaheer Nasar   

2^nd Supervisor: Ata Khalid

This PhD is part of the new Research England-funded Future Biodetection Technologies Hub and offers an exciting opportunity to contribute the advancement of real-time detection and characterisation of bioaerosols in contrasting environments by advancing scientific knowledge and the evidence base on the fluorescence characteristics of environmentally relevant biological materials and interferants through lab and real-world investigations and the development of new data analytic systems.

Bioaerosols - airborne particles of a biological origin including bacteria, viruses, fungi, pollen and toxins - are ubiquitous but their nature, magnitude, airborne residence and dispersal have significant implications for public health, biosecurity, agriculture, hydrological cycle, climate change and economy.

The existing state of knowledge on detection of bioaerosols is largely stemmed from off-line methods, suffer from the considerable time delay between sampling and quantification and offer only snapshot data. Recent advancement in bioaerosols detection and characterisation technologies, for example, fluorescence spectroscopy offer the capability to detect bioaerosols in real-time. However, the existing instrument instruments based on single particle ultraviolet laser/light-induced fluorescence (UV-LIF) technique are limited by their broad emission detection bands that significantly hinder to resolve spectrally integrated signals from diverse biological and non-biological interfering compounds in real world leading to poor selectivity of these sensors.

The single particle dual excitation multiple fluorescence band systems capable of measuring spectrally resolved fluorescence along with size and shape in real-time can offer improved selectivity and discrimination of airborne biological particles. The evolving landscape of UV-LIF based detection systems has demonstrated that these can provide size-segregated temporal profiles of biological particles in contrasting environments and resolved emission intensity measurements provide additional spectral information in comparison to the exiting LIF-based bioaerosol sensors. However, confidence in our ability to discriminate biological and non-biological particles and meaningfully classify bioaerosols is constrained by the relatively unsophisticated data analytics approaches currently available and the lack of defined, laboratory-generated training data that underpin them. Significant knowledge gaps remains, surrounding: discriminating interferants, elucidating the particle size-resolved molecular origin of fluorescence, assigning spectral responses to bioaerosol classes, and understanding atmospheric transformations and ageing processes.

Entry requirements

Applicants should have a first or second class UK honours degree or equivalent in a related discipline. This project would suit candidates with academic background in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Biology, Environmental biology.

Funding 

This studentship is open to both UK and International students. Sponsored by UKRI Expanding Excellence in England (E3) fund this studentship will provide a bursary of up to £ 19,700 (tax free) plus fees* for three years.

How to apply

For further information please contact:
Name: Zaheer Nasar
Email: z.a.nasar@cranfield.ac.uk

For information about applications please contact: Study@cranfield.ac.uk

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