PhD Studentship in Medicinal Chemistry: High-throughput Chemistry and direct-to-biology Testing to Accelerate Drug Discovery

Overview

The project aims to develop a new approach to drug discovery by developing new methods for synthesising and testing potential drug candidates in high-throughput. One of the barriers to the discovery of new medicines is the time taken to design, synthesise and test compounds through multiple cycles of optimisation. You will seek to develop an approach to reduce that time through development of high-throughput chemistry approaches that allow the rapid synthesis of analogues with clean-up and direct-to-biology testing to generate biological results. This will involve the development of solution-phase chemistry coupled with solid-phase reaction clean up using tethered reagents that enable pure compounds to be screened without further purification. These methods will allow the parallel synthesis and testing of ca. 100 compounds in a single operation, potentially taking less than a week to design, synthesise and test.

These approaches will be applied to optimisation of drug candidates for selected cancer targets to demonstrate their applicability.

Number Of Awards

1

Start Date

1st October 2026

Award Duration

4 years

Application Closing Date

31st January 2026

Sponsor

EPSRC and Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals

Supervisors

Prof. Mike Waring and Dr. Hannah Stewart

Eligibility Criteria

We are adopting a contextual admissions process. This means we will consider other key competencies and experience alongside your academic qualifications. An example can be found here.

A minimum 2:1 Honours degree or international equivalent in a subject relevant to the proposed PhD project is our standard entry, however we place value on prior experience, enthusiasm for research, and the ability to think and work independently. Excellent Analytical skills and strong verbal and written communication skills are also essential requirements. A Masters qualification may not be required if you have a minimum 2:1 degree or can evidence alternative experience in a work or research-based project. If you have alternative qualifications or experience, please contact us to discuss flexibilities and request an exemption. 

Applicants whose first language is not English require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in all sub-skills. International applicants may require an ATAS (Academic Technology Approval Scheme) clearance certificate prior to obtaining their visa and to study on this programme.

How To Apply

Please read and complete document  as your Personal statement, and upload with your application. Applications which do not include this document will not be considered. Further details can be found here. 

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

Once registered select ‘Create a Postgraduate Application’.  

Use ‘Course Search’ to identify your programme of study:  

• search for the ‘Course Title’ using the programme code: “8100F”
• select ‘PhD Chemistry (full time) - Chemistry' as the programme of study

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

• a ‘Personal Statement’ (this is a mandatory field) – Use this template.
• the studentship code DLA2629 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.   

You must submit one application per studentship; you cannot apply for multiple studentships on one application.

Contact Details

For further details, contact mike.waring@ncl.ac.uk.

You can also contact: doctoral.awards@ncl.ac.uk for independent advice on your application.

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