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

In the first year, in addition to the laboratory rotations, you will also be expected to attend specialist training courses and lectures that begin your preparation for your multidisciplinary PhD. These include PILB and PILC animal courses (formerly known as modules one to four) of the Home Office Personal Licence.

A unique aspect of the programme is the wide range of experimental techniques available within the OXION laboratories. These include approaches to whole animal in vivo physiology and animal behaviour, as well as cutting-edge biochemical, biophysical, electrophysiological, structural and computational methods for studying ion channels and membrane proteins.

From the second to fourth years, you will focus on your doctoral research project. This must be a multidisciplinary project that involves more than one research group. Such joint projects not only help you develop independence and a wider range of skills, but also facilitate important collaborations between groups. The primary supervisor will be drawn from a list of those working directly on ion channels or transporters but the choice of co-supervisor may depend on the nature of the project and techniques required. The final choice of both project and host research groups will be made by you in conjunction with the Organising Committee.

Your progress is monitored by the Programme Directors and you will be required to meet standard University milestones for progress involving formal monitoring via supervisor feedback forms submitted three times per year.

Where appropriate, you will also have the opportunity to take additional graduate modules to equip yourself with new skills that might be required for your project, or to update your knowledge of major new developments in your own (or related) research field. Training will also be provided in other relevant transferable skills such as writing research papers, planning/writing a thesis and presentation skills.

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Medical Sciences Doctoral Training Centre and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Medical Sciences Doctoral Training Centre.

Applicants are advised to visit the course page on the centre's website for further information about supervisors associated with this course (see Further Information and Enquires).

Many graduates from this programme continue with academic postdoctoral research in prestigious laboratories worldwide and some now have independent research positions. Other graduates have entered the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry or have continued with their medical training.

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

Medical Sciences DPhil
Neuroscience (1+3) DPhil
Cellular Structural Biology DPhil
Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics DPhil

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