PhD Studentship in Liver Cancer: Cancer Associated Fibroblasts as Immunotherapeutic Targets in Liver Cancer

Award Summary

100% of home tuition fees paid and an annual stipend (living expenses) of £17,668. Successful international candidates will be required to fund the difference between the home fees and international fees. 

Overview

Primary liver cancer is the 3rd leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide and current immunotherapies are only effective in a quarter of patients. Understanding why some patients respond and others do not is a key unanswered question in the cancer field.  

Previous work in the group has shown that immunotherapy resistance in liver cancer is associated with fibrosis and cancer associated fibroblast activation. In this exciting project the student will build on this work and aim to understand the role of cancer associated fibroblasts in liver cancer progression and determine whether they can be targeted therapeutically to improve immunotherapy responses.  

The student will join a highly motivated team of researchers in the Newcastle Fibrosis Research Group, committed to delivering high-quality translational research in chronic disease and cancer. Throughout the project the student will receive high quality training in experimental design, data analysis and interpretation as well as develop skills in experimental disease modelling, including pre-clinical mouse models, immunology, metabolism and cell signalling. The student will be encouraged to attend scientific meetings to develop their scientific knowledge and communication skills. 

This project is expected to discover new roles of cancer associated fibroblasts in liver cancer immunotherapy responses and lead to the identification of novel treatment strategies.  

Number Of Awards

1

Start Date

September 2023 

Award Duration

3 year PhD

Sponsor

Newcastle University

Supervisors

Dr Jack Leslie - Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University 

Dr Shoba Amarnath - Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University 

Eligibility Criteria

You must have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2:1 honours degree or international equivalent, in an appropriate subject, including: biomedical sciences, bioinformatics. A further qualification such as an MRes is advantageous. 

This award is available to home and international applicants. Successful international candidates will be required to make up the difference between the home fees and international fees. 

Successful EU applicants will be considered for the Vice-Chancellor’s EU Research Scholarship. 

English Language requirements: IELTS 6.5 overall, with 5.5 or more in each sub-skill. 

How To Apply

You must apply through the University’s Apply to Newcastle Portal.    

In the ‘Course choice’ tab:  

• select ‘Postgraduate Research’ in the 'Type of Study' field  
• select ‘Full Time’ in the ‘Mode of Study’ field  
• select ‘2023’ in the ‘Year of Entry’ field  
• enter programme code 8420F in the ‘Course Title’ field  
• leave the ‘Research Area’ field blank  
• press ‘Search’  
• Select ‘PhD Biosciences (FT)’  
• Save selection  

You will then need to provide the following information in the ‘Further Details’ section:  

• a ‘Personal Statement’ (this is a mandatory field) - upload a document or write a statement directly in to the application form  
• the studentship code BI063 in the ‘Studentship/Partnership Reference’ field  
• when prompted for how you are providing your research proposal - select ‘Write Proposal’. You should then type in the title of the research project from this advert. You do not need to upload a research proposal. 

Contact Details

For further details, please contact: 

Dr Jack Leslie 

Biosciences Institute 

E-mail: Jack.leslie@ncl.ac.uk

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