EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Chemical Biology: Empowering UK BioTech Innovation
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
Chemical biology is spearheading the development & translation of novel molecular tools and technologies to study biology and develop biomedical understanding. Dovetailing these platforms with industry 4.0/5.0 breakthroughs in automation & robotics, artificial intelligence & machine learning, the CDT will unlock the Lab of the Future paradigm. This will redefine the state of the art with respect to making, measuring, modelling & manipulating molecular interactions in biological systems, leading to novel R&D workflows, promoting efficient design-test cycles and driving sustainability.
These molecular technologies will (i) enable biological & medical research, (ii) revolutionise understanding of disease & (iii) create novel diagnostics, drugs & therapies, focusing increasingly on individual patient outcomes. They will also impact the agri-tech sector which faces huge demand to increase productivity by unlocking strategies to e.g. track agrochemicals in plants/soil, understand modes of action & drive precision farming. Similarly, advances in personal care industrial processes are critically dependent on development of molecular technologies to gain insight into structured product design.
The application of novel molecular tools/technologies, Lab of the Future strategies & their commercialisation through the instrumentation science sector is thus critical to the UK economy, supporting >4,500 healthcare, personal care, agri-science & biotech companies. This will transform (i) therapeutic, agrochemical & personal care product discovery (ii) med-tech/biotech/healthcare instrumentation R&D pipelines & (iii) stimulate creation of SMEs. Working closely with civic partners including Hammersmith & Fulham Council and the NHS, the CDT's talent & research pipeline will act as a growth engine for one of the most rapidly expanding Life Science ecosystems in Europe, the White City Innovation District.
Given the importance of Chemical Biology to UK plc there is great demand but short supply of Chemical Biology PhD graduates able to match the pace of innovation across the physical/life science interface, at a time when industry & health sectors need these skills to accelerate productivity. The CDT in Chemical Biology: Empowering UK BioTech innovation with its unique 5 year programme: 1 year MRes + 3 year PhD + 1 year ELEVATE Fellowship directly addresses this skills gap by training a new generation of career-ready graduates, able to embrace the Lab of the Future concept and unlock its potential by fusing innovative molecular tools & tech with industry 4.0 & 5.0 advances to study molecular interactions & develop applications in the life science, agriscience & personal care sectors.
CDT students will benefit from a research and training programme created with >100 industry/external stakeholders designed to meet future employer's needs. Our cohort-based programme with EDI at its heart, will allow students to contextualise their work within wider CDT activities & find novel solutions to their research, supported by one of the world's largest Chemical Biology communities: the Institute of Chemical Biology (>165) research groups.
Students will be trained in multidisciplinary blue skies/translational research, lean innovation, scale fast/fail fast approaches, creating scientists able to understand molecular technologies, sustainable product design, early-stage commercialisation, & industry's pace of change. To support this, our training includes Future Lab & HackEDU courses (prototyping training), a drug screening programme, Biz-Catalyst (entrepreneurial training), InnovaLab (SME accelerator), a Data Science course, Human Centred Design, Science Communication (with BBC) & Bioethics/RRI/Sustainability/Policy courses. Following PhD completion, students can enter the ELEVATE fellowship programme, bridging the gap between PhD & industry/academia, offering training, personalised workplace opportunities & enable students to kickstart new companies.
These molecular technologies will (i) enable biological & medical research, (ii) revolutionise understanding of disease & (iii) create novel diagnostics, drugs & therapies, focusing increasingly on individual patient outcomes. They will also impact the agri-tech sector which faces huge demand to increase productivity by unlocking strategies to e.g. track agrochemicals in plants/soil, understand modes of action & drive precision farming. Similarly, advances in personal care industrial processes are critically dependent on development of molecular technologies to gain insight into structured product design.
The application of novel molecular tools/technologies, Lab of the Future strategies & their commercialisation through the instrumentation science sector is thus critical to the UK economy, supporting >4,500 healthcare, personal care, agri-science & biotech companies. This will transform (i) therapeutic, agrochemical & personal care product discovery (ii) med-tech/biotech/healthcare instrumentation R&D pipelines & (iii) stimulate creation of SMEs. Working closely with civic partners including Hammersmith & Fulham Council and the NHS, the CDT's talent & research pipeline will act as a growth engine for one of the most rapidly expanding Life Science ecosystems in Europe, the White City Innovation District.
Given the importance of Chemical Biology to UK plc there is great demand but short supply of Chemical Biology PhD graduates able to match the pace of innovation across the physical/life science interface, at a time when industry & health sectors need these skills to accelerate productivity. The CDT in Chemical Biology: Empowering UK BioTech innovation with its unique 5 year programme: 1 year MRes + 3 year PhD + 1 year ELEVATE Fellowship directly addresses this skills gap by training a new generation of career-ready graduates, able to embrace the Lab of the Future concept and unlock its potential by fusing innovative molecular tools & tech with industry 4.0 & 5.0 advances to study molecular interactions & develop applications in the life science, agriscience & personal care sectors.
CDT students will benefit from a research and training programme created with >100 industry/external stakeholders designed to meet future employer's needs. Our cohort-based programme with EDI at its heart, will allow students to contextualise their work within wider CDT activities & find novel solutions to their research, supported by one of the world's largest Chemical Biology communities: the Institute of Chemical Biology (>165) research groups.
Students will be trained in multidisciplinary blue skies/translational research, lean innovation, scale fast/fail fast approaches, creating scientists able to understand molecular technologies, sustainable product design, early-stage commercialisation, & industry's pace of change. To support this, our training includes Future Lab & HackEDU courses (prototyping training), a drug screening programme, Biz-Catalyst (entrepreneurial training), InnovaLab (SME accelerator), a Data Science course, Human Centred Design, Science Communication (with BBC) & Bioethics/RRI/Sustainability/Policy courses. Following PhD completion, students can enter the ELEVATE fellowship programme, bridging the gap between PhD & industry/academia, offering training, personalised workplace opportunities & enable students to kickstart new companies.
Organisations
- Imperial College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- Advanced Research Clusters Management Lt (Project Partner)
- Scale Space (Project Partner)
- Hammersmith and Fulham Council (Project Partner)
- NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (Project Partner)
- IBM (Project Partner)
- Technical University of Munich (Project Partner)
- Synthace Ltd (Project Partner)
- R&M Healthtech Limited (Project Partner)
- Micrographia BIO (Project Partner)
- GlaxoSmithKline (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- WOOST Ltd (Project Partner)
- Dayhoff Project (Project Partner)
- Yoo Capital Limited (Project Partner)
- Mitsui Fudosan (U.K.) Ltd (Project Partner)
- Institute of Cancer Research (Project Partner)
- SynbiCITE (Project Partner)
- Novartis (Switzerland) (Project Partner)
- Upstream (Project Partner)
- Diamond Light Source (Project Partner)
- SynBioVen Limited (Project Partner)
- University of Hong Kong (Project Partner)
- Centre for Process Innovation (Project Partner)
- Procter & Gamble Limited (P&G UK) (Project Partner)
- Ubiquigent Ltd (Project Partner)
- Cancer Research UK Convergence Science (Project Partner)
- Agilent Technologies (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- BactoBio Ltd (Project Partner)
- Nutropy (Project Partner)
- Vertex Pharmaceuticals (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- FungiAlert (Project Partner)
- BASF (Germany) (Project Partner)
- Undaunted (Project Partner)
- MedCity (Project Partner)
- National Physical Laboratory (Project Partner)
- Revena Limited (Project Partner)
- Clustermarket Ltd (Project Partner)
- AstraZeneca (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Royal Botanic Gardens (Project Partner)
- The Francis Crick Institute (Project Partner)
- ADC Therapeutics (UK) Limited (Project Partner)
- Lewtas Science and Technologies (Project Partner)
- FreshCheck (Project Partner)
- Syngenta (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Octopus Ventures (Project Partner)
- Create Education Ltd (Project Partner)
- SOSV Limited (Project Partner)
- CodeBase Ltd (Project Partner)
Studentship Projects
Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 30/03/2033 | |||
2926789 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | Max Barnett |
2926772 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | Rohan Sekhri |
2929326 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | Teresa Weckwerth |
2926942 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2027 | Guanghao Xu |
2926921 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2027 | Yasmin Gariba-Hamilton |
2926818 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | Bracha Lawrence |
2926780 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | Daisy Williams |
2926835 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | David Tsang |
2926833 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | Jak Soon |
2926930 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | Srija Ghosh |
2926938 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2027 | Heran Li |
2929284 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2027 | Saskia Pieters |
2926843 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | Xinran Li |
2926736 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | Fawaz Raja |
2926825 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | Seshagiri Sakthimani |
2926808 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | Ido Dan |
2926819 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | Rie Roennow |
2926837 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | Evanthis Vacanas |
2926784 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | Konstantina Arvaniti |
2926793 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 30/09/2024 | 29/09/2028 | Hayden Jit Hei Cheung |
2929926 | Studentship | EP/Y035186/1 | 01/11/2024 | 30/10/2027 | Baiqiu Tang |