Completed Physics & Astronomy Cells, Biochemistry & Physiology

Life Sciences Interface Doctoral Training Centre

Funder EPSRC (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation
Funding £5.5M
Period Sept 2008 — Mar 2018

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A single training centre at Oxford University is producing the next generation of researchers who can apply physics, mathematics, and engineering to living systems. This matters because biology and medicine increasingly rely on techniques from the physical sciences—imaging the brain, modelling gene networks, building nanoscale tools to interact with cells—but few researchers are trained to work across both worlds. The centre targets four specific areas where the gap is most acute: biological physics, medical imaging and signals, mathematical genetics and bioinformatics, and computational biology. Each area already has strong interdisciplinary collaborations with life sciences and clinical colleagues across the university. If the centre succeeds, it will supply industry and academia with researchers who can turn raw medical scans into clinically useful information, build computer models of how genes function, and design nanoscale devices that interact with biological molecules. The programme includes a pilot industry-based doctoral programme, meaning graduates will be equipped for immediate impact in sectors such as diagnostics, drug development, and healthcare technology. The demand for such trained researchers is already strong in all four areas.

View original technical description
The LSI DTC provides a comprehensive training programme, and facilitates leading-edge research, in the mathematical, physical, and engineering science techniques that underpin four interlinked application areas at the Life Sciences Interface within the University: biological physics arising from the joint EPSRC/BBSRC IRC in Bionanotechnology based primarily in the Physics Department; medical imaging and signals arising from the joint EPSRC/MRC IRC: From Medical Images and Signals to Useful Clinical Information based primarily in the Engineering Science Department; mathematical genetics and bioinformatics linked to the Oxford Centre for Gene Function and based in the Statistics Department; and Computational Biology arising from the Integrative Biology e-Science Pilot Project and based in the Computing Laboratory. Each of these application areas and associated groups are involved in extensive interdisciplinary collaborations with life sciences and clinical colleagues across the University, and more widely, and each represents a key strategic research direction for both the host depaitinents and the University. Demand for trained researchers in both industry and academia is very strong in all four research areas, and the DTC has very strong industrial input into the programme, including a pilot industry-based D. Phil programme.

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Researchers

David Gavaghan (Principal Investigator)J Brady (Co-Investigator)Peter Donnelly (Co-Investigator)Richard Berry (Co-Investigator)

Related Research

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Original classification

Training Grant

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.