Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences EPSRC Project Proposals 2025/26 - Building Artificial Cells for Clinical Diagnosis of Pathogen Infections

Project Link: Building artificial cells for clinical diagnosis of pathogen infections | Project Opportunities | PhD | University of Leeds

Eligibility: UK Only

Funding: School of Chemistry Scholarship, in support of MRC Research Grant: UK Japan Engineering Biology for Novel Therapies and Diagnostics Research Collaboration, consisting of the award of fees, together with a tax-free maintenance grant (currently £19,237 per year for academic session 2024/25) for 3.5 years.

Lead Supervisor’s full name & email address

Professor Paul Beales: p.a.beales@leeds.ac.uk

Co-supervisor(s) full name & email address

Professor Michael Webb: m.e.webb@leeds.ac.uk

Dr Kerrie Davies: k.a.davies@leeds.ac.uk

Project summary

Artificial cells mimic the structure and some properties of natural, living cells with reduced complexity. They are assembled from their molecular constituents, enabling them to be engineered with specific functions and developed for applications in a range of technology areas, including environmental remediation, chemical manufacture and biomedicine. In this project, you will join an international team, across UK and Japan, developing artificial cells for rapid diagnosis of pathogen infections.

You will join an international project team (split between Leeds, Osaka, Kobe and Tokyo) and contribute to the design and optimisation of these molecular sensors. A particular focus of the PhD project will be to determine how these sensors can be used in a clinical setting. You may also broaden the range of targets that can be detected and distinguished by the system to include other antibiotic-resistant pathogens. As part of the wider project team, you will have the opportunity to undertake a 3-month secondment at one of our project partners in Japan as well as to network with the wider national and international engineering biology and synthetic cell communities.

Please state your entry requirements plus any necessary or desired background

First class or an upper second class British Bachelors Honours degree (or equivalent) in an Natural Sciences, Biochemistry, Chemistry, or related disciplines such as biochemical engineering or biophysics.

Subject Area

Biomedical engineering, biophysics, biotechnology, biochemistry, chemical engineering, macromolecular chemistry, materials science

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