Supervisor(s): Prof. Theoni Georgiou (Department of Materials, Imperial College London), Dr Sergey Tsukanov (Eli Lilly and Company)
Start date: 1st October 2025
Duration: 4 Years
Funding: The studentship is for 4 years and will fully cover home tuition fees and provide an annual tax-free stipend of £24,780.
Campus: South Kensington
Entry requirements: Candidates must meet the Imperial College London's requirements
Eligibility: UKRI studentships are open to home and international students. Students will receive a full award, including a stipend and fees at the home level. UKRI will normally limit the proportion of international students appointed each year through individual doctoral training programmes to 30% of the total. More details are available on the Eligibility UKRI Webpage.
We are seeking applications to fill a Ph.D. candidate position with an anticipated start date in October 2025.
The candidate will lead a collaborative project between the Imperial College London and the Synthetic Molecule Design and Development (SMDD) group at Eli Lilly and Company. Research will focus on creating and designing a new generation of solid supports to enable increasing access to RNA interference (RNAi)-based therapeutics on scale. RNAi medicines have demonstrated rapid growth in recent years with a multitude of medicines being approved. With shifting focus of RNA therapies beyond orphan indications for treatment and management of a broader scope of human disease there is an increased emphasis on oligonucleotide manufacturing platforms. Oligonucleotides are typically synthesized via a solid phase supported phosphoroamidite strategy. This platform is highly efficient to deliver discovery quantities of diverse oligonucleotides required for early stages of development. However, scaling up solid phase-based processes faces a significant set of well-recognized challenges from a scalability, cost and sustainability perspective. Beyond phosphoroamidite chemistry optimizations and engineer advancements there is a unique opportunity to further address solid phase support as a critical element of this strategy.
The goal of the project is to develop an in-depth understanding of the relationship between the properties of the polymer solid support and the resulting oligonucleotide material. Nature and intrinsic properties of selected polymers are essential for producing high-quality RNA and controlling necessary excesses of reagents and washing solvents. As oligonucleotides themselves are biopolymer materials requiring repetitive cycles to furnish the desired molecule length, performance improvements reflected in each cycle could result in an exponential impact on total process efficiency. We propose to investigate and elucidate fundamental principles driving resin performance. Then, utilizing acquired expertise, the goal of this project is to develop novel polymer supports with optimal characteristics to enable higher throughput of RNA with reduced environmental impact and improved process metrics. This project will include the development of strong synthetic skills, expertise in controlled polymerization techniques and characterization of the resulting materials. Extensive collaboration with state-of-art Industry Development group will enable translation of the knowledge related to polymers and their function into a variety of real-life applications toward relevant RNAi therapeutics. Moreover, it will provide a feedback loop for additional design opportunities and fine-tuning of polymer properties for specific applications also defining fundamental correlations between characteristics of the polymers and quality of RNA materials produced using these supports. The vision is to take this know-how a step further, designing new materials that could enable accelerated development timelines and greater patient access to RNAi-based therapeutics.
We encourage informal enquiries to be made to Prof. Theoni Georgiou: t.georgiou@imperial.ac.uk
Applicants should have a Master’s degree or (equivalent) with First Class or Upper Second Class in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Physics or Chemistry. Applicants should submit the electronic application form, submitting a CV and a cover letter. For information on how to apply, go to: Application process | Study | Imperial College London
Please contact Dr Annalisa Neri for further information.
Suitable candidates will be required to complete an electronic application form at Imperial College London for their qualifications to be addressed by the College Registry.
Closing date: Until the position is filled
Committed to equality and valuing diversity, we are also an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Disability Confident Employer and are working in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people. The College is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the journal impact factor where it is published. For more information, see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research- evaluation/
