MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Bioengineering a protein nanocage as a novel drug and antigen vaccine delivery platform for cancer therapeutics

Description

Are you passionate about making a difference in cancer treatment? Join our exciting PhD project developing cutting-edge nanotechnology to outsmart cancer!

Cancer remains one of the leading causes of disease-associated death worldwide. Despite continued improvement of treatment success in patients, there is a growing need for more targeted treatments in which therapeutic drugs and/or vaccines can be delivered more specifically to tumour sites while simultaneously also stimulating the body's immune system to fight the cancer cells [1].

Nanoparticle-based drug delivery has recently emerged as a promising platform in disease treatment [2,3]. Our recent success in producing new types of nanoscale protein shells by bioengineering [4,5] opens a new avenue to generate a completely novel platform for targeted delivery of cancer therapeutic drugs and vaccines directly to tumours. This novel system could potentially:

·        Target treatments precisely to cancer cells, reducing side effects

·        Carry multiple drugs to attack tumours from different angles

·        Stimulate the immune system to fight cancer naturally

·        Offer greater biocompatibility, robustness, specificity, and efficiency in cancer therapeutics

Building on our exciting results, in this PhD project, you will develop a unique skill set in designing protein-based caging nanoplatforms and performing various pre-clinical in vivo tests. These tests will assess how effectively these nanoplatforms can deliver therapeutic drugs and antigen vaccines to specific sites, with the intent of controlling tumour growth.

You will work at the interface of biology, medicine, biochemistry and bioengineering in a collaborative, multidisciplinary environment. You'll gain hands-on experience with:

•       Protein engineering and nanomaterial design

•       Advanced microscopy and imaging techniques

•       Cancer biology, cell physiology, and animal tumour models

•       Pharmacology, immunology and vaccine development

•       Biochemistry and structural biology techniques

·       Data analysis and statistics

You will also develop project management and communication skills with team members, colleagues, and collaborators. This broad skill set will prepare you for an exciting career in biomedical science or industry.

Join our team of world-class researchers at the University of Liverpool and be part of developing the next generation of cancer therapies. Together, we can make a real impact in cancer nanomedicine!

Please contact us to learn more about this innovative project.

Professor Luning Liu

Email address: 

Website: www.luningliu.org

X: @luningliu              LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luningliu/

Professor Natalia Saveleyeva

Email address: 

https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/people/natalia-savelyeva

Professor Lu-Gang Yu

Email address: 

https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/people/lu-gang-yu

 Benefits of being in the DiMeN DTP:

This project is part of the Discovery Medicine North Doctoral Training Partnership (DiMeN DTP), a diverse community of PhD students across the North of England researching the major health problems facing the world today. Our partner institutions (Universities of Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, York and Sheffield) are internationally recognised as centres of research excellence and can offer you access to state-of-the-art facilities to deliver high impact research.

We are very proud of our student-centred ethos and committed to supporting you throughout your PhD. As part of the DTP, we offer bespoke training in key skills sought after in early career researchers, as well as opportunities to broaden your career horizons in a range of non-academic sectors.

Being funded by the MRC means you can access additional funding for research placements, training opportunities or internships in science policy, science communication and beyond. Further information on the programme and how to apply can be found on our website:

https://www.dimen.org.uk/

Availability

Open to students worldwide

Funding information

Funded studentship

Studentships are fully funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) for 4yrs. Funding will cover tuition fees, stipend (£19,237 for 2024/25) and project costs. We also aim to support the most outstanding applicants from outside the UK and are able to offer a limited number of full studentships to international applicants. Please read additional guidance here: View Website

Studentships commence: 1st October 2025

Good luck!

Supervisors

References

[1] Sawyers C. Targeted cancer therapy. Nature 432, 294–297 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03095.
[2] Natalie B et al. Massively parallel pooled screening reveals genomic determinants of nanoparticle delivery. Science 377, eabm5551 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm5551
[3] Mitchell MJ et al. Engineering precision nanoparticles for drug delivery. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 20, 101–124 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41573-020-0090-8.
[4] Tao N et al. Intrinsically disordered CsoS2 acts as a general molecular thread for α-carboxysome shell assembly. Nature Communications 14: 5512 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41211-y.
[5] Peng W et al. Molecular principles of the assembly and construction of a carboxysome shell. Science Advances 2024, adr4227, in press.