PhD in Engineering at the Cardiff University

Cardiff University offers a PhD Studentship for the project “Advanced Personalised 3D Dosimetry for a clinical trial in petide radionuclide therapy”.

In Molecular Radiotherapy (MRT), unsealed radioactive sources are used to treat cancer. The treatment is based on the delivery of radiation to malignant tissue through the interaction of an agent with molecular sites and receptors. Although it is well known from external beam radiotherapy that the therapeutic effect of radiation depends on the absorbed doses delivered to tumours and to normal organs MRT treatments are still largely based on the administration of a fixed measured activity of radioactive material and are not planned or optimised based on the patient’s specific anatomical and physiological characteristics. There is a recognised need to raise the standard to which MRT treatments are planned and delivered. There is also the need to build scientific evidence of correlation between therapeutic dose and outcome through clinical trials. The goal of this project is to address this gap in knowledge and practice through the development and the application on advanced tools for personalised dosimetry in the context of a clinical trial in peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PPRT) of neuroendocrine tumours (NETs). The project will be carried out in collaboration with project partner Arcispedale-IRCCS Santa Maria Nuova Hospital (Reggio Emilia, Italy). For all patients enrolled in an ongoing clinical trial in PPRT MRT, SPECT-CT image-based dosimetry will be carried out using state of the art image processing software and the Raydose Monte Carlo code for accurate radiotherapy dose calculation. During this study any correlation between therapeutic dose and outcome within the PPRT-MRT clinical trial will be objectively evaluated. Successful candidates are expected to undertake regular travel to our Italian project partner site for onsite experimental activities, data collection and analysis.

Eligibility

This studentship is open to students of any nationality. Students classified as international for fee purposes have to self-fund the difference between home and international fees. Candidates should hold or expect to gain a first class numerate degree or a good 2.1 and/or an appropriate Master’s level qualification (or their equivalent). Applicants whose first language is not English will be required to demonstrate proficiency in the English language (IELTS 6.5 or equivalent). This project is best suited for students with strong interests in Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy Physics, Data Analysis and Software Development.

Scholarship

This studentship consists of full UK/EU tuition fees, as well as a Doctoral Stipend matching UK Research Council National Minimum – £14,057 per annum for 2015/16 (updated each year).

Application

The deadline for applications is 1 August 2015. To apply you should submit a CV and Covering letter to Miss J Cleaver engineering-pgr@Cardiff.ac.uk . The successful candidate will then be invited to submit a standard application for Postgraduate Study via the Online Application Service. Please ensure that you quote the studentship reference CRW-ES-2015 in the email subject field.

For more information please follow the official website.