Now Closed: Development of an automatised platform for drug discovery in human tissue models (23026)
4-year PhD studentship - Development of a novel automatised platform for drug discovery in relevant human tissue models
10 July 2023
Primary Supervisors: Prof. Danail Stoyanov (UCL Centre for Medical Image Computing (CMIC) & Department of Computer Science) | Prof. Paolo De Coppi (UCL Institute of Child Health, co-primary or secondary supervisor)
Secondary Supervisors: Dr Giovanni Giuseppe Giobbe (UCL Institute of Child Health) | Dr Giuseppe Mazza (Engitix Therapeutics)
A 4-year funded PhD studentship is available in the UCL GOS Institute of Child Health “Developmental Biology and Cancer” department. Studentship provides a stipend for four years (at UKRI level) and tuition fees (home status). Stipend details can be found here.
The successful candidate will join the UCL CDT in Intelligent, Integrated Imaging in Healthcare (i4health) cohort and benefit from the activities and events organised by the centre.
About Us:
Further information can be found at the below:
- UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (UCL GOS ICH): https://www.ucl.ac.uk/child-health/great-ormond-street-institute-child-health-0 | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/child-health/people/decoppi-iris-profile
- Wellcome/ EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (WEISS): https://www.ucl.ac.uk/interventional-surgical-sciences/wellcome-epsrc-centre-interventional-and-surgical-sciences-weiss
- Engitix Therapeutics: https://engitix.com/
- Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children (ZCR): https://www.gosh.org/what-we-do/research/zayed-centre-research/
Project Background:
Drug discovery is known to be a long and expensive process with very low success outcomes. The whole process usually develops over three phases: i) synthesis of the drug molecules, ii) preclinical animal trials, and iii) human clinical trials. Preclinical animal trials have shown crucial limitations in the past years, as caused by the wide interspecies gaps between animals and humans. This often translates into wide unreliability in animal trials’ outcomes, with huge losses in pharmaceutical research and development programs.
The use of human-derived in vitro/ex vivo models has opened new horizons in this field, by preserving patients-specific features and reproducing physiological and pathological scenarios more reliably1,2.
The urgency in establishing novel therapeutic strategies is evident in the field of liver disease, as shown by the constant rise in cases3 and the complex multifactorial nature of hepatic pathologies.
Precision-cut tissue slices (PCTSs) and organoids have the potential to overcome these challenges. PCTSs are biological tissue sections that retain organs’ features, in either their physiological or pathological state, whilst organoids are 3D cellular aggregates with wide scientific and clinical applicability. These models have generated great interest from scientific and healthcare institutions, showing the potential to reduce (and replace) preclinical animal trials.
- Weinhart, M., Hocke, A., Hippenstiel, S., Kurreck, J. & Hedtrich, S. 3D organ models—Revolution in pharmacological research? Pharmacological Research vol. 139 446–451 Preprint at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2018.11.002 (2019).
- FDA Modernization act 2021. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/2952?r=77&s=1 (2021).
- Asrani, S. K., Devarbhavi, H., Eaton, J. & Kamath, P. S. Burden of liver diseases in the world. Journal of Hepatology vol. 70 151–171 Preprint at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2018.09.014 (2019).
Research aims:
This doctoral project concerns the development of an automatised platform devoted to the derivation of PCTSs and organoids from patient-derived surgical samples. This will concern the combination of mechanical components, electronic circuitry, and automatised modules. The platform will then be used to assess the efficacy of novel drug candidates by integrating biological and machine learning approaches.
The project aims at establishing a multidisciplinary approach to tackle current shortcomings in drug discovery processes by adopting a multifaceted perspective. If successful, this work will establish novel drug discovery pipelines that can be further expanded to a wide array of pathological scenarios.
Person specification & requirements:
Experience with:
- Design, manufacturing, and assembly of mechanical and electrical components
- Bioengineering, cellular and molecular biology
- Computer science and bioinformatics
- Laboratory practice
Eligibility:
This studentship is for Home Fee applicants only. Overseas fee payers will not be considered. You can find out more information about Fee Status criteria here
Deadline : 6th August 2023
How to apply:
Please complete the following steps to apply.
- Send an expression of interest and current CV to: danail.stoyanov@ucl.ac.uk, p.decoppi@ucl.ac.uk and cdtadmin@ucl.ac.uk . Please quote Project Code:23026 in the email subject line.
- Make a formal application to via the UCL application portal https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate/apply . Please select the programme code Medical Imaging TMRMEISING01 and enter Project Code 23026 under ‘Name of Award 1’
Application Process:
- After the deadline, all applicants that specified Project 23026 and with a Portico application will be considered for interview.
- Candidates will normally be invited for interview within two-weeks of the deadline. If you have not been contacted within this time-period, you have unfortunately not been successful in being shortlisted.
- The interview panel will normally consist of the supervision team on the project and the CDT Director.
- The interview will normally consist of a short presentation (5-10mins) by the candidate followed by questions from a panel.
- The successful candidate will be informed by email and given a week to confirm whether they wish to accept the PhD place and funding.
- Note that applications without specifying the project they are applying for and/or making a formal Portico application will be automatically rejected.
- Once accepted, a formal UCL offer of admission will be sent to the applicant as well as an offer of studentship funding.