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Engineering & Applied Science
Contract Type:  

Fixed Term (3 years)

Closing Date:  

Monday 31 March 2014 (Midnight UK Time)

Reference:  

R140076

School of Engineering and Applied Science in partnership with the Diamond Light Source PhD Studentship (3 years)

The development of a standing acoustic wave (SAW) Microfluidic chip for accurately positioning micron sized protein crystals for MX Xray diffraction experiments at the Diamond light source synchrotron.

Applications are invited for a three year PhD studentship, supported by Aston University and the Diamond light Source, the UK’s particle accelerator. The research will be undertaken primarily within the chemical engineering department at Aston (CEAC), with experiments also being carried out at the Diamond light source (www.diamond.ac.uk ).

The position is available to start in April 2014  

Financial Support

The studentship is supported by a maintenance allowance of £13,726 plus a £ 3,000 per year award from Diamond.  Applicants from outside the EU may apply for this studentship but will need to pay the difference between the ‘Home/EU’ and the ‘Overseas’ tuition fees.

Background of the Project

Diamond Light Source is the UK’s national synchrotron science facility, located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire. By accelerating electrons to near light-speed, Diamond generates brilliant beams of light from infra-red to X-rays which are used for academic and industry research and development across a range of scientific disciplines including structural biology, physics, chemistry, materials science, engineering, earth and environmental sciences.

Often presenting samples to the beam is time-consuming and labour-intensive. It would be very advantageous to Diamond and ultimately to other synchrotrons around the world if this task could be automated.

This PhD project will examine the use of SAW waves in microfluidic chips containing liquid/solid suspensions to manipulate the positioning and orientation of these micron dimensional crystals ultimately facilitating presenting to them to the X-ray beam in an ordered fashion.

Person Specification

The successful applicant should have a first class or upper second class honours degree or equivalent qualification in Physics or Mechanical Engineering; other numerate subjects may also be considered. Essential skills and requirements include knowledge and experience of acoustics, microfluidics and good mathematical and analytical skills.

For informal enquiries about this please enquire to Dr Mark Leaper at Aston University, in the first instance by email: m.leaper@aston.ac.uk .

The online application form, reference forms and details of entry requirements, including English language are available at http://www1.aston.ac.uk/eas/research/prospective-research-students/how-to-apply/