PhD Studentship: Normothermic Liver and Kidney Perfusion for Organ Preservation, Drug Testing or In Situ Therapies

Research Studentship in Normothermic Machine Perfusion

3.5-year D.Phil. studentship 

Project: Normothermic Liver and Kidney Perfusion for Organ Preservation, Drug Testing or In Situ Therapies

Supervisor: Prof Robert Carlisle

Normothermic machine perfusion of either non-tumour-bearing or tumour-bearing organs is a platform technology enabling a broad array of emerging applications, including: improved organ preservation and viability testing prior to transplantation; pre-clinical testing of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of novel therapeutics for cancer and non-cancer applications; and in situ organ perfusion applications for targeted single-organ confined drug and gene delivery. Applications are invited for original research falling under any of these three areas towards completion of a DPhil. 

Eligibility

This studentship is funded through a partnership with an industrial sponsor and is open to up to three Home or/and overseas students (full award – fees plus stipend). There are awards available both for non-clinical and clinically qualified candidates. The industrial collaboration further provides a budget for equipment and consumables required for experimentation, as well as travel support to attend and present at national and international conferences.

Award Value

Course fees are covered at the level set for Home or Overseas students. The stipend (tax-free maintenance grant) is the UKRI minimum stipend for the first year (£21,805), and at least this amount for a further two and a half years.

Candidate Requirements

Prospective candidates will be judged according to how well they meet the following criteria:

• A first class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours (or equivalent) in Biomedical Engineering, Surgery, Medicine, any of the Natural Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Biochemistry) or other discipline relevant to normothermic machine perfusion.
• Excellent English written and spoken communication skills

The following skills are desirable but not essential:

• Prior experience of biomedical and in vivo experimentation
• Prior experience of working with flowing blood and blood-derived biomarkers
• Prior experience of working in the field of drug delivery or gene therapy for either cancer and non-cancer applications
• Experience of testing or modelling pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of novel macromolecular therapeutics.
• Experience of analytical techniques including quantitative PCR, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, bulk RNA sequencing, ELISA.

Application Procedure

Informal enquiries are encouraged and should be addressed to Professor Robert Carlisle (robert.carlsile@eng.ox.ac.uk).

Candidates must submit a graduate application form and are expected to meet the graduate admissions criteria. Details are available on the course page of the University website.

Please quote 26ENGBI_RC in all correspondence and in your graduate application.

Application deadline: noon on 03 July 2026 (In line with the University admissions deadline set by the University)

Start date: October 2026

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