2025 Application Round for Oxford D. Phil. in Biological Physics
Join us in exploring and establishing the physical basis that underlies the biological processes occurring in all of our cells!
Available projects include:
• Rotary molecular machines (Berry lab). Invent, develop and use new single-molecule biophysics experimental methods to understand how biological rotary molecular motors work.
• Biophysics of neuronal computations (Contera lab). Why is the brain is energetically orders of magnitude more efficient at computing and learning than AI? Discover how neurons exploit physics to compute using our neuronal chip based on surface acoustic waves.
• Single-molecule studies of DNA and chromatin replication (Dekker lab, Gruszka lab). Use start-of-the-art single molecule techniques combined with biochemistry to examine the dynamics of DNA and chromatin replication in reconstituted or cellular contexts.
• Mechanisms & machines of DNA transcription (Kapanidis lab). How do protein machines find genes inside the millions of DNA letters in cells, and how do they turn this info into RNA? Explore such questions by tracking nanoscale motions of single molecules and building novel microscopes and code to enable this.
• Studying ion channel pores and their role in health & disease (Tucker lab). Perform multidisciplinary studies (structural, functional and computational) to examine the structure and function of potassium channels.
Application process:
To join our groups, you will have to be admitted on one of several graduate programmes that cover biophysicsrelated work. The most relevant programmes are:
• DPhil in Condensed Matter Physics (CMP). CMP is one of the six sub-departments of the Department of Physics. Entry to this program allows the student to start research in their selected group from the beginning of the course.
• Oxford Interdisciplinary Bioscience DTP, a four-year graduate training programme, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (UKRI-BBSRC). In this programme, the students have three months of coursework and undertake two laboratory rotations before they select a lab to proceed with their doctoral research.
• Engineering Biology Centre for Doctoral Training (EngBioCDT), a four-year graduate training programme funded by BBSRC and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). This program involves coursework and lab rotations before the start of doctoral research.
• Chemistry in Cells Multidisciplinary PhD Programme, a four-year graduate training programme funded by the Wellcome Trust that combines advanced research in chemical and physical sciences at the interface with biomedicine.
Application deadline: 8 January 2025
