PhD Studentship Opportunity

3D Printing and Magneto-Acoustic Technologies for Lung-on-a-Chip Chemical Safety Assessment

This project is part-funded by the Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC). For eligible UK students, the studentship provides tuition fees at the UK home-student rate, a stipend at the current UKRI rate for 3.5 years, and a generous allowance for research consumables, travel and subsistence. 

International students are welcome to apply. However, funding is not available to cover tuition fees or living costs for non-UK students. International applicants would therefore need to secure independent funding for these costs. Additional support for research consumables, travel and subsistence may be available, subject to funding availability.

Project Overview

This PhD project aims to develop an advanced lung-on-a-chip (LoC) platform integrating 3D printing and magneto-acoustic technologies to improve chemical safety assessment. The platform will provide a physiologically relevant and potentially higher-throughput alternative to conventional toxicity-testing approaches, with a particular focus on inhalation exposure and regulatory toxicology. The project will address three key questions:

1. How can 3D printing and magneto-acoustic stimulation be integrated to improve the structural and functional performance of lung-on-a-chip models for toxicity assessment?
2. Can the platform reproduce relevant inhalation exposure scenarios and reliably predict biological responses to airborne pollutants?
3. How can the system be optimized for regulatory use and real-world chemical risk assessment?