Cellular Structural Biology

Students spend the first year learning a range of structural biology techniques, undertaking two five-month projects in different laboratories and following taught courses. We encourage students to learn two of the major structural biology techniques during these two projects.

Students then spend years two to four of the programme primarily engaged in their research projects. They have the opportunity to work with outstanding structural biologists, continuing to develop structural methods, or to investigate the molecular basis for cellular processes, including in infection or membrane biology. Collaborative projects are highly encouraged, with students building supervisory teams, which contain their primary structural biology supervisor as well as others with expertise in complementary methods or particular biological questions.

Training in key research techniques should include:

• X-ray crystallography
• nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
• electron cryo-microscopy and electron tomography
• synchrotron radiation and integrative structural biology
• high-resolution light microscopy
• computational biochemistry and molecular simulations.

The students write reports at the end of each rotation project and have the opportunity to discuss the report and their research project with one of the principal investigators associated with the programme. They also prepare a project proposal at the end of the first year to outline what they plan to do during their DPhil project. Both of these activities provide valuable training in proposal and report writing.

The students are also enrolled in the standard University-based monitoring of progress. They will receive termly progress reports. They will also write a report and have a viva with two experts in their research area, who will offer advice and determine whether they are ready to progress to the official status of a DPhil student. This process ensures that students receive support and advice and check that they are on track with their learning and their project.

Each student will be guided and supported by a supervisory team. The students are encouraged to be flexible about the supervisor until they arrive in Oxford, as the first week of their course is spent meeting all of those associated with the programme and making decisions about where to work during their rotation projects. A primary supervisor will be an expert in a core structural biology technique and will ensure the provision of training. Co-supervisors will bring expertise in specific methods, which may be structural or may be other techniques which enrich the training and the research. In addition, the programme directors will regularly meet with students to provide guidance, support and careers advice.

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Medical Sciences Doctoral Training Centre. It is also not always possible to offer students their preferred supervisor, as Wellcome have guidelines about the number of students who each individual supervisor can work with. However, with such a broad pool of excellent supervisors, this is rarely a problem. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Medical Sciences Doctoral Training Centre.

Our programme prepares students for a wide range of future careers, providing project management experience, programming skills, and the experience of working in a precise and numerically rigorous scientific field. We equip and support our students to transition to careers in academia, industry and beyond, while ensuring that we train a cohort to continue to apply and to develop structural biology into the future.

Many graduates from this programme continue in research in prestigious laboratories worldwide and are now world-leading researchers, either as senior group leaders or in established academic posts. Many are leaders in research and development in industrial settings. Other graduates are in a wide range of different careers, including medicine, scientific administration, health management, consultancy, patent law and the civil service.

Changes to this course and your supervision

The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. In certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.

Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.

For further information, please see our page on changes to courses.

Other courses you may wish to consider

Applicants are strongly advised to visit the Medical Sciences Graduate School website to help them identify the most suitable course and supervisors.

If you're thinking about applying for this course, you may also wish to consider the courses listed below. These courses may have been suggested due to their similarity with this course, or because they are offered by the same department or faculty.

Courses suggested by the centre

Biochemistry DPhil
Ion Channels and Disease DPhil
Clinical Medicine DPhil
Interdisciplinary Bioscience (BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnership)

All graduate courses offered by the Medical Sciences Doctoral Training Centre

Biomedical and Clinical Sciences DPhil

Cancer Science DPhil

Cardiovascular Science DPhil

Cellular Structural Biology DPhil

Chemistry in Cells: New Technologies to Probe Complex Biology and Medicine DPhil

Computational Discovery DPhil

Genomic Medicine and Statistics DPhil

Ion Channels and Membrane Transport in Health and Disease (OXION) DPhil

Neuroscience combined MSc and DPhil

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Entry requirements