Smart Switchable Sensors for On Demand Biosensing and Cell Therapy Monitoring

About the Project

Cell and gene therapies are transforming medicine by enabling personalised treatments for patients with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Despite their clinical success, the widespread adoption of these therapies remains limited by complex, costly and failure prone manufacturing processes. A major challenge is the lack of real time tools capable of monitoring biological systems during cell therapy production, limiting process control, consistency and scalability.

This PhD project aims to develop a new class of smart, switchable biosensors for on demand monitoring of cell therapy manufacturing processes. The focus is on creating conceptually new sensing platforms that move beyond traditional passive sensors, introducing active control over molecular recognition at biointerfaces.

In this project, you will work on the design and development of electrically switchable biointerfaces that can be turned ON and OFF on demand, enabling controlled interaction with biomolecules directly in complex culture environments. By exploiting stimuli-responsive peptide and protein interfaces, the project seeks to establish new principles for real time process monitoring that overcome key limitations of conventional technologies, such as fouling, signal drift and lack of temporal control.

The research is inherently interdisciplinary, combining electrochemistry, surface and materials chemistry, bionanotechnology and bioanalytical sensing. You will work at the interface of fundamental science and real-world biomanufacturing challenges, contributing to technologies aimed at improving the robustness, efficiency and scalability of advanced cell therapy production.

You will join a dynamic research environment within the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, working alongside postdoctoral researchers and PhD students tackling complementary aspects of switchable biointerfaces, biosensing and cell therapy bioprocessing. This collaborative setting provides strong scientific support while allowing you to develop and lead an independent PhD project within a broader translational research programme.

The project is underpinned by strong preliminary data and protected intellectual property, and forms part of a wider effort to develop next generation sensing technologies for advanced therapy manufacturing. It offers excellent training in cutting edge electrochemical sensing, surface engineering and interdisciplinary research, preparing graduates for careers in academia, biotechnology and the bioprocessing industry.

This project will suit highly motivated candidates who enjoy tackling intellectually challenging, open-ended problems and who are excited by research focused on enabling the manufacture of next generation cell-based therapies.

Applicants should hold a strong first or upper second-class bachelor’s degree or an MSc degree in Engineering, Chemistry, Materials Science, Physics or Biology, and demonstrate enthusiasm for interdisciplinary research at the interface of chemistry, biology and engineering.

Funding Notes

This position is available only to home students or self-funded students.