PhD Studentship: Development of human lung cancer organoid models to study anticancer drug response

Award Summary

Studentship covers home fees and UKRI rate stipend (£21,805 for 26/27) 

Overview

Are you interested in learning how to model cancer and examine the response to therapies? Drug discovery involves many steps before a compound can be assessed in a patient, and it is crucial to use the most relevant models to best mimic the disease. This project will develop cellular models and primary cultures from KRASmutant nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) samples to investigate the efficacy of anticancer therapeutics. 

Lung cancer is the 4th most common malignancy in the UK and a leading cause of cancer death. Although targeted therapies are being explored for KRASmutant NSCLC, intrinsic and acquired resistance remain major challenges. Resistance mechanisms can include the acquisition of additional mutations in the MAPK pathway, or alternative signalling responses (e.g. mediated by YAP). 

In this PhD, you will establish and assess NSCLC model systems, including cell lines and patientderived organoids (PDOs). You will evaluate drug efficacy, study cellular signalling responses, and apply genome editing tools such as CRISPR to explore the underpinning mechanisms. Working with patient samples pre and postKRAS inhibitor treatment, you will validate clinically relevant resistance mechanisms. 

Why apply? 

You will join a crossdisciplinary team with strong expertise in drug discovery and cancer biology. You will gain skills in advanced 3D culture systems, imaging, molecular biology, CRISPR, and target discovery - positioning the project at the interface of translational biology and preclinical development. 

We are passionate about advancing new anticancer therapeutics and are seeking a motivated student to join the Bioscience team of the Newcastle Cancer Drug Discovery Group, an integrated team of cancer biologists, pharmacologists, structural biologists, and medicinal chemists. More details about our group can be found here: Cancer Research Horizons Newcastle University . 

Number Of Awards: 1

Start Date: October 2026

Award Duration: 4 years 

Application Closing Date: 6th March 2026 

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