Category: Recruitment

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Funded PhD studentship to make a difference in skin cancer detection and prevention

What if we could detect or even predict skin cancer with a simple skin swab, before a tumour is even visible?

Our team at Newcastle University is developing this technology, and we’re looking for a passionate PhD student to join us. This is a fully-funded project that sits at the exciting intersection of biology, engineering, and real-world patient impact.

About the Project

Skin cancer is one of the UK’s most common cancers. We’re tackling this by pioneering a gentle, minimally invasive technique that collects molecular information from beneath the skin’s surface. This ‘microsampling’ approach could one day make community screening for skin cancer a simple and accessible reality.

You will be at the heart of this innovation, working to optimise the technique, discover key biomarkers, and test its use in a clinical setting.

This project is a close collaboration with Professor Mark Birch-Machin (Professor of Molecular Dermatology), Dr Andrew Porter of the Newcastle University Protein and Proteome Analysis (NUPPA) facility, and Dr Samantha Hills (Clinical Director at Lynton, the UK’s largest manufacturer of aesthetic, surgical and conservation lasers).

A Unique PhD Experience

This isn’t a standard lab-based PhD. It’s a prestigious MRC DiMeN iCASE studentship, which means you’ll be co-developing this technology with our industrial partner, Lynton.

Your experience will include:

  • A dedicated 3-month placement at Lynton, gaining hands-on insight into how medical devices are really made, tested and used.
  • Mentorship from a full supervisory team of academic and industry experts.
  • Training as part of the DiMeN cohort, joining a network of over 140 PhD students across 5 leading universities the North of England.

Is This for You?

We’re looking for a curious and motivated student with a background in life sciences or biomedical engineering. If you’re driven by the prospect of seeing your work directly improve patient lives and want a PhD that prepares you for a career at the cutting edge of health tech, we want to hear from you.

Ready to Apply?

Find all the details and apply via the official advertisement on FindAPhD.com and DiMeN website. Apply by 4 December 2025, 1 pm (GMT). Enquiries welcome.

Please share this with anyone in your network who might be the perfect fit for this project!

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Welcome Bohan!

Bohan Zhou, who spent several weeks as a research intern in our lab last year, has rejoined us to study a PhD in microneedle biosensing. We have a very interesting project lined up. Welcome back, Bohan!

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Naeem joins our team

COVID-19 put a lot of things on hold, including this long-anticipated trip by Dr M. Naeem Aamir to join us in Newcastle. The much delayed trip finally materialised this week.

Naeem is an Associate Professor at the Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Sponsored by the Pakistani government, he will work with us to design pharmaceutical formulations for inflammation. I am delighted to be hosting Naeem for this work.

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Welcome, Djurdja!

This week, we welcomed Dr Djurdja Vukajlovic to our team as a postdoctoral researcher. Djurdja is a materials engineer and specialist in polymer and ceramics. She has joined in our efforts to develop a material that confers exceptional extended-release properties to pharmaceutical dosage forms. This material has recently enabled us to formulate a transdermal microneedle patch that continuously releases the drug for 2 months. Djurdja will split her time between the School of Pharmacy and the School of Engineering.

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Welcome, Surar!

Dr Surar Al-Hashimi is a physician with an interest in dermatology. She joins our team this week as a research assistant to examine the effect of laser ablation on the biochemistry of the skin. She brings to the team expertise in dermatology and research skills in molecular biology. We are delighted to welcome her to the team!

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Personnel update

This month, Daniel Yanes joins the research team to develop a microneedle drug delivery system based on a metallogel. Daniel is a student on the MRes Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine programme, with a background in chemistry.

Meanwhile, Amor has completed his MPharm research project on microneedle biosensor development and will now be focusing his energy on other aspects of his MPharm programme. We wish him all the best!

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Research associate/assistant position available

A research position is now open, for an immediate start, and tenable until 31 July 2022 in the first instance. The closing date for applications is 3 February 2022. Please see the advertisement for full details.

We have described the recent progress we have made in a novel drug delivery technology which, among other things, prolongs drug delivery beyond a month (read about it here , here and here). The research associate/assistant will be responsible for further development work to demonstrate a wide application of the drug delivery technology in various dosage forms, for the delivery of small molecules and macromolecular drugs (e.g. biologics).

This is a collaborative project between the School of Engineering and the School of Pharmacy at Newcastle University. Informal enquiries are welcome.

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Welcome, Emma and Amor!

October 2021. At the start of the new academic year, we welcomed two members into the research team: Emma and Amor.

Emma is a UK-qualified pharmacist with an interest in drug delivery. She has now started her PhD project working on developing a medical microimplant with a view to empower patients to self-manage sustained release medications. The work is funded by an EPSRC PhD studentship.

Amor is a final-year MPharm student. He has been working on the validation of a microneedle immunobiosensor platform based on a new detection method our team has recently developed.

Welcome, both!

And note to self: next time, try to post updates before they become old news.

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EPSRC PhD Studentship Available

We’re pleased to announce that a PhD studentship is now available in our laboratory and open for applications. The PhD studentship, generously funded by the EPSRC, will fund the tuition fees, living expenses (stipend) and research support (e.g. consumables) for one PhD student for 3.5 years. The student will work under the guidance of Keng, Wing and Katarina to develop a microimplant for drug delivery.

Interested candidates should apply online by following any one of the links below, which also contain full details of the studentship:

Informal enquiries should be directed to keng.ng@newcastle.ac.uk.

If you know anyone to whom this may be of interest, please forward this on.

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We’re hiring

We’re looking for a Research Associate/Assistant to join our lab to develop a smart drug delivery system that empowers patients to self-care. Adverts are out on the University’s job site and jobs.ac.uk.

Closing date for applications: 5 December 2020.

We welcome informal enquiries. Please direct them to keng.ng@newcastle.ac.uk.

Update 18 December 2020: Applications have now closed and we’ve entered the shortlisting stage. Thank you for all your interest.