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Phd Studentship: Ultrasonic Invention for Handwashing Sufficient to Combat Superbugs

Employer
Global Academy Jobs
Location
United Kingdom
Closing date
May 31, 2017

Job Details

Ultrasonic Invention for Handwashing Sufficient to Combat Superbugs

Acoustics Group

Location: Highfield Campus

Closing Date:  Wednesday 31 May 2017

Reference: 833617KR

The The Centre for Disease Control advises that we should washes our hands for 20 s in warm soapy water. Despite all this advice and advertising, humans resist this, the average wash time in the UK being 7 s, often in cold water without soap. If we cannot change human behaviour, we will change the water through this engineering project. By 2050 handwashing will be a key, if not THE key, protection against ‘superbugs’, which will be killing more people than cancer. The rise of superbugs is not an aberration that can be averted by the discovery of a new antibiotic, as is often portrayed (youtu.be/jZLiMerIwhQ; bit.ly/PPSAMRDD; http://tinyurl.com/zm5my8r). The first invention for producing cleaning down a stream of cold water was StarStream (http://tinyurl.com/o9qyheu). This project will investigate the fundamental science and engineering issues that must be addressed in order to incorporate ultrasonic cleaning into a hospital tap/faucet, to turn a simple stream of cold water into an effective remover of the microbes, particularly those which, by natural selection, are developing into superbugs (i.e. which develop resistance to anti-microbial agents): bacteria that evolve to resist antibiotics, viruses that develop resistance to antiviral agents, fungi that become resistant to antifungal agents, and parasites that evolve resistance to the chemicals used against them. Although this project will be based in Engineering, we have a strong collaboration with Life Sciences who will undertake measurement of the microbiological load and the successful candidate should embrace the opportunity to get such cross-disciplinary experience: in the future careers market, researchers with cross-disciplinary experience will be well placed, and indeed the project will receive the support of the University Strategic Research Group, NAMRIP (see http://www.southampton.ac.uk/namrip/news/latest.page ).

This project will build revolutionary devices to send ultrasound down a water stream directly from a tap in a world leading engineering lab, and test their effectiveness in a top microbiology lab. This project would be suitable for an engineer or physical scientist who is keen on learning the techniques of a microbiology lab, or a microbiologist who is enthusiastic about spending time in an engineering lab. The team prides itself on providing a happy and supportive environment.

Supervisors: Professor Timothy Leighton FREng FRS and Professor Bill Keevil BSc PhD CBiol FRSB FRSM FAAM.

Requirements: Applicants should have a 2:1 or first class undergraduate degree in a physical sciences or engineering.

Start date: 27 June 2017 although can be flexible for good candidate.

Aims: The PhD will last for 3 years and include interactions with industry in order to make a significant impact on handcleaning without additives by the end of the project: This is important because of the widespread nature of cleaning hands with cold water, addressing the need to make currently ineffective cold water hand washing habits safe. It is also important because many of those healthcare workers who do wash frequently with hot soapy water suffer skin problems to the extent that they take time off work ( http://tinyurl.com/zl3s8w9): this project will also help them and avoid loss of their labour to the health service.

Context: This project will be part of the activities of NAMRIP (the Network for AntiMicrobial Resistance and Infection Prevention). NAMRIP tackles superbugs and infections by bringing together engineers, chemists, microbiologists, environmental scientists, medics, vets, experts in food, ethics and law, crucially networked with economists, geographers, health scientists and key stakeholders.

In NAMRIP, our world-leading research mentors train the next generation of research leaders to work across discipline boundaries, because the coming catastrophes in healthcare and food production impact across boundaries.

NAMRIP grew in 18 months from a handful of pioneers in 2015 with £10,000, to a group of over 200 researchers with a research budget of over £6 million and a network of partner organizations, exciting portfoilios in research and Public Engagement. Click here for NAMRIP news.

If you wish to discuss any details of the project informally, please contact Professor Timothy Leighton FREng FRS, Acoustics research group, Email: tgl@soton.ac.uk, Tel: +44 (0) 2380 59 2291.

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