Development of new mRNA-based cancer vaccines for breast cancer

About the Project

Applications are invited for a self-funded, 3 year full-time or 6 year part-time PhD project.

The PhD will be based in the School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences and will be supervised by Dr Roja Hadianamrei and Dr Sassan Hafizi.

The work on this project could involve:

• Manufacturing different libraries of LNPs and optimising their physicochemical properties.
• Assessing the physicochemical stability of the developed mRNA-loaded LNPs in different storage conditions and in biological fluids
• screening the mRNA-loaded LNPs in cultured dendritic cells (DCs) to assess their ability for mRNA delivery and immune activation.
• Assessing the biocompatibility of the mRNA-loaded LNPs.

Project description

Cancer is the 2nd leading cause of death globally. The current treatment strategies vary in their therapeutic efficiency and are sometimes associated with cancer replacement due to multidrug resistance. Therefore, the cancer mortality rate is high and there is still a need for more effective treatment strategies. Cancer vaccines have emerged in the last decade as a new promising tool for cancer immunotherapy and some of them have found their way to clinical trials. Cancer vaccines involve exogenous administration of selected tumour antigens combined with adjuvants that activate dendritic cells. They aim to stimulate the patient’s adaptive immune system against tumour antigens to inhibit the tumour growth and to eradicate any residual disease. This project aims at developing new mRNA based cancer vaccines against breast cancer using lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). The project involves a variety of techniques for manufacturing and evaluation of the vaccine including microfluidics, DLS, GE, Fluorescence spectroscopy, fluorescence microscopy, western blot HPLC and human cell culture.

General admissions criteria

You'll need a good first degree from an internationally recognised university (minimum upper second class or equivalent, depending on your chosen course) or a Master’s degree in an appropriate subject. In exceptional cases, we may consider equivalent professional experience and/or qualifications. English language proficiency at a minimum of IELTS band 6.5 with no component score below 6.0.

Specific candidate requirements

Having research experience in pharmaceutical science, nanotechnology, biochemistry or molecular biology is an advantage.

How to Apply

We’d encourage you to contact Dr Roja Hadianamrei (roja.hadianamrei@port.ac.uk) to discuss your interest before you apply, quoting the project code.

When you are ready to apply, please follow the 'Apply now' link on the Pharmacy, pharmacology and biomedical sciences PhD subject area page and select the link for the relevant intake. Make sure you submit a personal statement, proof of your degrees and grades, details of two referees, proof of your English language proficiency and an up-to-date CV. Our ‘How to Apply’ page offers further guidance on the PhD application process.

When applying please quote project code: MPB10031026