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PhD Studentship - Plexcitonic Sensors for Medical Diagnostics
University of Sheffield - Department of Chemistry
Be Part of an Exciting Research Programme at the Cutting Edge of Molecular Science
Do you enjoy exciting, cross-disciplinary and cutting-edge research? We invite applications for this studentship, starting on 1 October 2022, as part of a £7.3 M collaborative project on Molecular Photonic Breadboards ( ****)funded by EPSRC and led by Prof Graham Leggett. You will be part of a team of 14 researchers across the Universities of Sheffield, Bristol and Exeter with lead investigators in Chemistry (Prof Steve Armes FRS, Prof Julia Weinstein and Prof Nick Williams (Sheffield)), Biology (Prof Neil Hunter FRS (Sheffield) and Prof Dek Woolfson (Bristol)), Physics (Dr Jenny Clark, (Sheffield) and Prof Bill Barnes (Exeter)) and the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Prof Dan Lambert).
PhD in Plasmonic Sensors for Clinical Diagnostics
A major unsolved challenge in medical diagnostics is to develop fast, reliable, quantitative routes to diagnosis of disease.
Plasmonic sensors have been the subject of enormous interest in clinical diagnostics, because they enable high sensitivity detection in a simple format. For example, gold nanoparticles are used in lateral flow devices, because they have large extinction coefficients, meaning that they absorb light strongly, enabling the detection of small amounts of analyte.
However, it remains very hard to quantify conventional plasmonic data. This is important, because quantitative analysis is often critical in the diagnosis of disease. For example, in diagnosis of cancer, biomarkers are often present in both healthy people and those with cancer; the main difference is in the concentrations of biomarkers in the body. Being able to measure biomarker concentrations accurately at low concentration is critical to making an effective diagnosis.
We have discovered that biological molecules can, under certain conditions, become strongly coupled to surface plasmon resonances - their energy levels are hybridised, leading to new states that are observed as a splitting of the plasmon band in the uv-vis spectrum. We have developed a simple approach to fitting these spectra that enables precise quantification of the amount of biomolecule, and this seems to be a very promising basis for a new kind of ultra-sensitive, quantitative biosensor.
In this project, you will design medical sensors that utilise strong light-matter coupling in combination with new surface chemistries to achieve sensitive quantitative detection of markers for disease. The project will involve nanofabrication, polymer chemistry, surface chemistry and spectroscopy, and collaboration with researchers in the School of Dentistry.
The broader aim of our programme
is to develop a new, modular approach for the creation of photonic materials, inspired by biological photosynthetic membranes. We call this approach 'molecular photonic breadboards': minimal units - synthetic antenna complexes - are designed from scratch to organise molecular components precisely in space. These building blocks are assembled to form nanostructured films. We will exploit the exciting new science of strong light-matter coupling, in which excitons (molecular excited states) are hybridised with confined optical modes (localised surface plasmon resonances) to create new states (plexcitons) that combine the properties of light and matter.
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Our goal is to control energy transfer pathways from the nm to the cm scale, and to lay the foundations for a revolution in the design of molecular photonic materials.
For more information on the science behind our programme visit ****For further information, please contact Prof Graham Leggett ( ****
Applications should be submitted via the online portal
Funding:
Tuition fee payment of £4,500 per year
Maintenance Stipend of £15,609
This studentship offers the full UK tuition fee for 3.5 years and an annual maintenance stipend at the standard research council rate
Qualification Type:
PhD
Location:
Sheffield
Funding for:
UK Students
Funding amount:
£15,609 - please see advert
Hours:
Full Time
Placed On:
25th February 2022
Closes:
31st March 2022
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